


When Raised by Robin: Creating the newest Superman

by The_Dawn_Knight



Series: When Raised by Robin [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Robin: Son of Batman (Comics), Super Sons (Comics), Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Bat Fam Fluff, Blood and Violence, Damian Wayne Needs a Hug, Damian Wayne is a Little Shit, Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Heart Strings tug tug, Hurt Damian Wayne, Hurt Jonathan Samuel Kent, Hurt/Comfort, Jon Kent needs a hug, Multi, Parents Clark Kent & Bruce Wayne, Protective Bruce Wayne, Protective Clark Kent, Protective Siblings, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Damian/Jon, Super Fam Fluff, The Bat Babies need a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-09-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:14:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 34,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25887163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Dawn_Knight/pseuds/The_Dawn_Knight
Summary: Jon's parents have decided that his being a normal kid would be best. The few powers he has discovered he's been forbidden to use. Thinking the Super family has the right idea Batman arranges Damian and Jon to go to school together in the hopes Jon will teach Damain to be a regular kid. Damian however has other plans and decides he is going to raise and train the world's next Superman. Still it's hard teaching an all powerful being to use their powers to their fullest without the world's greatest detective and the world's most powerful hero finding out.Scene from Current CH:He grabbed his knife pulling it up to Damian's throat. Damian attempted to back away from it, but merely backed into the other guys holding him preventing his retreat. The burning tear through the skin at his neck caused a vehement gasp that still escaped him despite his effort to hide it. It was partly surprise to. He hadn't expected the man to lose his patience that quickly and Damian took care to keep still at that point. Already bleeding, it wouldn't have taken more than a flick of the man's wrist to do serious, and possibly irreversible damage."Do you think I'm playing now?" he seethed."No," Damian snapped.
Relationships: Jonathan Samuel Kent/Damian Wayne
Series: When Raised by Robin [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1888867
Comments: 14
Kudos: 63





	1. The Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> This doesn't fall into any particular time frame of the Batman/Superman Universe. While I plan to pull some plot points from cannon here and there most of this story is just an AU.
> 
> Powers and continuity change across the DC verse so it became inevitable when writing this story to lesson some people's abilities (most notably Superman and Jon's) to stop characters from being too powerful. So if I write that a character can't do something that they can do in cannon, know that is the reason for said change.
> 
> If you have a specific villain, character, or plot that you'd like to see you're welcome to suggest it in the comments.

"What?" Robin snapped when he heard Batman land behind him, he didn't even need to turn around. He knew the look he was being given.

Batman surveyed the scene. It seemed his son had stacked the criminals in a pile in the corner and was already working on downloading the evidence from their computers.

"I took them down, if you wanted to be apart of the fun, you should have come a little quicker," he explained.

"Are they—"

"I didn't kill anyone," he added sharply looking rather annoyed. "They're just unconscious..."

One of the men in the stack Robin had made let out a pained groan as though trying to be on que.

"For the most part," he added.

"Robin, you have to quit going off without me. You're just a kid. I know you think you can handle these things because you're strong, but one of these days you're going to come up against something that you can't take on alone and what are you going to do when there is no one there to help you?"

"I don't need help."

"Everyone needs help at some point Robin."

"Yeah, that's why you joined the Justice League," Robin removed the flash drive from the computer and tossed it to Batman. "Here's the evidence. Did you want to double check my work or can we go home?"

The familiar sirens of approaching police vehicles met their ears and Batman put the drive where the officers would be sure to find it.

Batman sighed, "Come on…"

The batmobile wasn't far from them, so they hurried into it speeding away before the police showed up.

"Damian…" Batman sighed. "When we get home I'm taking your suit away."

Damian sighed. "May I ask _why_?"

"Because you seem to think you can just run off whenever you feel like it," he snapped. "Without a suit maybe you'll re-think things."

"Unlike you a having a suit isn't going to stop me."

"Then I'll have to find something that will."

"I don't understand what your problem is, I stopped killing because you asked me to. I started just fighting crime instead of annihilating it. Like you wanted. Anyone else in your shoes would say I was doing a good job…"

"What I want Damian is for you to not feel like this is your job. I let you come with me on some missions so you can grow in your skills, but when I'm not there you're not a crime fighter and when I am there, you're just back up," he explained. "Damian, you're just a kid. So just focus on being one."

"Being a kid is a stage that holds no real value or importance. So I skipped it. The moment I could walk on my own Ra's Al Ghul made sure that I was prepared to fight. He told me I had to surpass my adult trainers by the time I was eight. I did it when I was six. So stop treating me like a kid."

"You ARE a kid Damian, it doesn't matter how skilled you are."

"Tsk," he leaned back in his seat and glared out the window watching the light of the buildings and other cars go by.

"You know, Superman's son is likely to have the same powers as his father. But his family has decided to let him just be a kid. They decided that he isn't to participate in crime fighting until he's older. Maybe… that's what I should be doing for you."

"Since when did you start idolizing Superman?"

"I'm not idolizing, I just think he has a point in the way he's raising his son."

"He's raising his son to be weak. Did the kid even inherit any of Superman's powers?"

"He's keeping him out of the way," Batman frowned ignoring Damian's last comment. "Kids are safe when they're staying out of trouble. That's what he wants for his son. He just wants to keep his child safe; you can hardly blame him for that, and keeping him out of the line of danger keeps him safe."

"Shows what you know…" Damian snapped.

They pulled into the Batcave and the second it stopped Damian jumped out.

"Master Damian are—"

Damian, without turning around called snidely back to batman as he made his way upstairs. "Guess I'll just go sit in my room all day like a good child."

"Damian that's not…" Batman was about to retort but Damian had already gone not bothering to look back.

"Another hard day of parenting Master Bruce?" Alfred asked walking over to him.

"..." he sighed. "I don't know what to do… I told him I would take his suit away this time."

"Perhaps that's for the best."

"No, it's not. Yes I want him to be a kid… But at his core, he's a fighter. Pretending like that part of him doesn't exist isn't going to do him any favors," Batman frowned. "But I do need to stop him from running off on his own, he's going to get killed if he keeps doing it."

"Then maybe taking away the suit, would be a good thing," Alfred explained. "If I may be so bold Sir, as to offer some parenting advice."

"Offer away," Bruce answered removing his mask as he took a seat at the computer.

"When children are different from normal kids their own age, it is often best to let them be around children like themselves. Creating a sense of not only familiarity but an environment in which experiences can be shared and growth can be had. And at the moment, I can only think of one other child in the world who bears a number of striking similarities to Damian."

"I know who you're implying and believe me. I met Jon. Superman's kid and Damian are as different as night and day."

"Oh I don't know Sir, they're both preteens, with extraordinary abilities that far surpass that of an average child even if young Jon's is more in the magical sense. They both have Fathers who fight criminals on a daily basis, and they both have to bear the burden of secrets that if revealed it could destroy their worlds as they know it," Alfred let his words sink in.

"…"

"Shall I get Superman on the phone?" Alfred asked.

"No, get Lois on. I'd rather talk to her anyway."

"Right away Sir."

* * *

"Dad!" Jon rushed out to meet him when he landed outside their home. A small farmhouse out in the countryside. "You're just in time, dinner's ready."

"What did your Mom cook today?" he asked putting a hand on Jon's head to ruffle his hair lovingly.

"It's Mom, so everything she makes is delicious, but she had a busy day today, so we just ordered pizza, hurry before it gets cold!"

He followed Jon into their little farmhouse and Lois hurried over to him.

"Who did you save today?" she asked looking at the dirt on his suit.

"Everyone I could," he explained. "As always. Jon said you had a busy day."

"Yeah, I had a phone meeting with your colleague. Bruce Wayne."

"Oh," he answered frowning slightly. "What did he want?"

"He wants to have dinner with us. About Jon."

"That mans out of his mind," Clark snapped looking rather upset. "You know what he wants don't you?"

"Clark…" Lois tried to be consoling, but when batman was the subject, Clark always seemed to have a hard time thinking rationally.

"If he thinks my son is going to be fighting crime at his age, he has another thing coming…"

"That's probably not even what he wants. Mr. Wayne was saying he had an opportunity for Jon he wanted to discuss with us."

"Yeah, what's the quickest way I can use your son's powers recklessly and get him killed. We'll discuss it over lunch," Clark's Batman impression was horrific, but it made Lois chuckle regardless.

"Dear…" she put a hand on his arm. "Why are you worried. We are the final decision makers when it comes to our son and his well-being. We won't agree to anything that doesn't have Jon's best interest at heart. Besides, we both agreed. Even if Jon starts showing signs of powers we will teach him to not use them. But this is Bruce Wayne… I at least want to hear him out. So will you hear him out with me?"

"Of course," he answered taking her hand in his before kissing his wife lovingly. They were interrupted shortly after by Jon calling from the next room.

"You guys better hurry the pizza's already getting cold."

"We're on our way," Lois called as they came around the corner and sat down to eat as a family.

* * *

The restaurant Bruce suggested meeting at was as fancy as Clark feared. Lois, while she had never complained about their simple little country town life, she had a soft spot for the finer things and absolutely loved ritzy restaurants and getting dolled up. Besides he knew batman, the man didn't spare any expense when he wanted something and after glancing down the menu, he noticed the cheapest thing on it was $70 if you didn't count the free water.

"He's late…" Clark pointed out after the waiter sat them at what he said was "Mr. Wayne's favorite table, on permanent reserve for only his most esteemed guests."

"Of course he is," Lois answered shrugging. "Rich people always are. Ooooh look at this."

She pointed to an expensive lobster dish and wine.

"Darling that's…" Clark began only a voice from behind him interrupted.

"That's all on me. So don't worry about the price," Bruce came around the corner taking a seat across from them smiling.

"Hello Mr. Wayne, thank you for the invitation."

"The pleasure is all mine Mrs. Kent." The waiter hurried over with a menu, and Bruce held up his hand to stop him. "My usual. Mr. and Mrs. Kent probably still need a few minutes to decide so come back in about five minutes."

The waiter nodded silently and hurried away.

"Alright Bruce, let's just get to the point," Clark exclaimed a bit rudely.

"Clark!" Lois snapped throwing a sharp glare in his direction that only wives and mothers seemed capable of.

"Excellent idea, that way we can enjoy our meals in peace after our business has concluded."

Clark folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. He had already practiced his refusal of Bruce's request a hundred different ways in his head and was just trying to finalize which one he wanted to go with.

"So, right to the point… I need your help."

Both Clark and Lois looked taken aback by this statement.

"I admire how you're raising your son. You're giving him as normal of a life as anyone in his situation could hope for. He may not have gotten powers of his own but he's still Superman's son. In that aspect him and Damian are similar. You're going about this right. I need that sort of parenting style for Damian, but… he's never had that. A transition to that sort of life would be quite difficult for him, I almost fear it may be impossible."

Clark and Lois glanced at one another. Not quite sure where he was getting at.

"Damian needs to be around someone not so different from himself. Someone he can take after and learn from. Someone who could show him that not only is it okay for him to let his guard down and just be a kid but show him that that may in fact be the best life for him."

There was a rather long pause upon his finishing that sentence, and Lois broke the silence by softly proposing a question. "What exactly do you want from us Mr. Wayne?"

"What I want is for your son and mine to be friends. I want to send Damian to a boarding school, one of the best in the world, but he won't stay put there without some reason to stay. I want your son to be that reason. I want him to attend the school with Damian, absolutely free of charge on your end of course, and I'll cover everything right up to his graduation day."

Lois and Clark were still looking hesitant, so Bruce continued. "I need someone to tame him. Make him understand what being a kid is like and hopefully he'll choose that existence over crime fighting. At least until he's older."

"That's an amazing opportunity indeed Mr. Wayne. It's no secret that we wouldn't be able to afford a private school like that in a million years, but you can't just force kids to be friends," Lois pointed out. "They might hate each other and what if your plan fails and our son isn't able to keep him at the school."

"If that situation arises, your son will still be more than welcome to continue attending with all expenses paid. His going there is not based on the condition of his ability to keep Damian in check. He will be welcome regardless of Damian's compliance, that is of course, unless you choose to pull him from the school. In that situation, there will be no questions asked and no refunds expected. So don't worry about that."

Bruce took out a pamphlet from his jacket pocket and handed it to Lois. It was a brochure for the school. Incredibly famous all over the world. Only the children from the most elite families would attend.

"What's the hidden agenda?" Clark snapped but in a low voice so as not to draw the attention of the guests around them.

"Hidden agenda?"

"You always have something up your sleeve… so what is it?"

"Clark!" Lois frowned looking slightly embarrassed.

"Nothing. I'm simply trying to do what's best for my son. I'm not the best parent. But I'm trying. He didn't have a normal life growing up, and this kid basically just fell into my lap a little over a year ago and I'm at a loss as to how to approach a lot of the aspects of parenting. I never thought I would ever have to deal with this. But I feel like this move will be the best for him in the long run."

"I don't know much about your son other than his name," Lois said softly, setting the brochure down. "By not having a normal life, what exactly do you mean?"

"I'll be honest I'm a bit hesitant to go into that Mrs. Kent. If I tell you I'm not sure you want to agree to this."

"Then we need to know," Lois explained for the first time during their dinner her voice had an air of firmness to it.

"He was raised by assassins. Some of the best in the world. He was taught to kill his enemies and trust no one from a very young age. Damian never had a childhood, his existence has been his being surrounded by trainers and enemies. His life was lived jumping from one mission to the next. Down time for him is a waste of time. He doesn't exactly open up to me about his past. But the little he does speak of it, it's with a tone of his past being something he's proud of."

A sadden expression came over Lois' face and she glanced back down at the pamphlet.

"We're planning a camping trip this weekend. Clark, me, his parents, Jon… Maybe… Damian could come and we could see how the boys get along. I think it would be best to make this decision after we see how they are together."

She looked towards Clark to see if this idea was alright with him.

Somewhat begrudgingly he nodded.

"That sounds like a plan," Bruce answered clapping his hands together.

Clark didn't like how even when he was supposed to be discussing their children he was keeping this air of being in a business meeting. The smile on his face now was one of someone who had just won their deal.

Right as the waiter was bringing their food around the Bat signal was launched in the sky.

"I guess this dinner will have to be a short one. Please stay, order whatever you wish, have a good time and get some extras to bring home to Jon. Lois, I'll text you for the details on this weekend."

With that he got up and left the restaurant.

"What do you think?" Lois asked softly.

"I think we should have just said no."

"C'mon you don't mean that."

"I do. I don't trust Batman… I trust Bruce Wayne even less," he pointed out in a hushed tone to make sure no one could hear them.

"If Jon went to this school, he could go and do practically anything he wishes. We could never give him this sort of opportunity on our own. I think we should at least give this idea a chance, and if it doesn't work out then… As Mr. Wayne said. He's still able to attend even if he can't help Damian."

"Well, like you said. We'll see how this weekend goes."

* * *

"I know you're not happy Master Damian, but try to have a good time. This will be good for you," Alfred said as they pulled up to the farmhouse.

"I have better things to be doing."

Alfred let out a sigh, "I'm sure you do, still there is no rule that says you can't turn this trip into something worthwhile."

He stepped out and opened the door for him. Damian grabbed his bag and climbed out find Superman in his plain everyday clothes ready to greet him.

"We meet again Damian," he said holding out his hand.

He shook it while at the same time glancing around.

"I would have thought your home would be a little more…" he paused unable to come up with a word that didn't reek of vulgarity. So he changed the subject. "You work this farm by yourself?"

"Mostly," he answered. "Jon helps me sometimes. I'll introduce you in a moment."

Clark made his way to Alfred to speak with him so Damian decided to wander around the farm. He found it strange that a man with such incredible powers would choose to live such a… There he went again unable to find an adjective that would describe this place in a positive light.

What Ra's al Ghul would have given to have the sheer power and near invulnerability that Superman had. He wouldn't have had a need for a lazarus pit that's for sure. Still all that power and he choose to live on a small country farm. A man without vision, is what his grandfather would have called him. He had called his father that more than once.

"Hi!"

Without realizing it he had wandered into the barn where Jon had apparently been playing.

"You must be Damian. My Dad said you were coming with us. Have you ever been camping before?" he jumped down from the loft. He must have been napping because he had a few pieces of hay in his hair stuck in various parts of his clothes.

"…yes."

"Really? I didn't think city kids went camping."

"Boys where are you?" Lois called.

"We're in here Mom!" Jon headed back towards the house. They walked out just in time to see Alfred saying goodbye to Clark.

"Is that your Dad? I didn't realize Batman was so old."

"That's not my Father."

"Who is it?"

"Our servant," Damian stated simply as Lois walked over to them.

"Hello young man," she said smiling at Damian. "I hope you're ready for a weekend of fun and adventure."

"Sure."

"We already got the camper loaded," Clark explained. "Is… Is that all you brought?"

Damian had a small bag that did not look like it was big enough to hold a weekend's worth of camping stuff.

"Yeah, it's all I need."

"If you say so," Lois grinned. Go ahead and get in the camper. Clark and I will get a few last-minute items."

"Let me show you the bunk bed in our camper. It sits right overtop the driver seat!" Jon grabbed Damian's arm and hurried off with him.

"I have a bad feeling about this weekend," Clark sighed.

"Oh c'mon. He'll warm up to us. Boys love camping! Once they get in the great outdoors I'm sure he'll start having fun," she explained as she headed out to the barn to grab a few extra blankets.

Clark wasn't about to pretend to know everything about Damian. But he knew the boy better than Lois did from the few times he had seen him working with Batman. He already knew how this weekend would go. Damian would be grumpy and bored the whole trip. Jon's happy nature wasn't going to mesh with that, and then they could forget about the boys going to school together.

He absolutely did not want them going to school together. He wanted his son to be happy and an academic driven upscale school would not make him happy. Jon deserved a world class education, but their was more to life and being a kid than just books and knowledge. He was afraid Jon going to this school would make him forget to be a kid, have fun, and work with his hands.

It'll be fine. It had to be.

* * *

The campground was a few hours away so Damian spent the drive reading a book and his son was bouncing around the camper. With a few of his justice league action figures. Pretending to make them fly around. He even asked Damian to play with one of them and was promptly shot down.

Jon walked up to his mother who was in the passenger seat.

"I'm not sure what else to try Mom," Jon whispered frowning slightly.

Clark got the feeling that she had asked Jon to do his best to be friends with Damian. So he ruffled his hair. "Don't try too hard Jon, Damian's not the easiest person to get along with."

"This is a small camper you know. I don't need super hearing to know what you're saying," Damian responded without looking up from his book.

"Ugh," Lois looked like she was trying to think quickly. The passenger seat was able to swivel completely around in this camper so she spun it to face Damian. "So Damian tell us about yourself. What do you like to do?"

"Read," he answered before returning to his book.

"Well, are their any camping games you like to play?"

"Not really."

"…" she frowned. "Oh I know."

She undid her seat belt and walked over to one of the benches that would fold out into a bed. She reached into the drawer beneath it and pulled out a Chess board. "I'm sure a kid like you must love Chess."

He closed his book. "Do you play Mrs. Kent?"

"A little, but I think it would be nice for you and Jon to play."

The little interest that Damian showed seemed to melt away at that point and with an audible sigh he sat his book to the side. "Fine."

"Mom I don't know how to play…"

"I'm sure Damian will teach you," she pointed out and had Jon sit across from him at the table.

Damian began taking the chess pieces out and explaining the names of them and what moves they were allowed to do. Lois sat back down in the passenger seat with a confident, _ah ha! I did it_ , sort of expression.

"Good job," Clark said. Though he looked in the rear view mirror at them. Damian was clearly frustrated and Jon looked bored out of his mind. He was pretty sure all Lois managed to do was make two unhappy children rather than one.

By the time they pulled into the campground tensions in the back had escalated.

"No, you idiot. The bishop can't move like that!" Damian snapped.

"Well mine can fly!" Jon explained.

"No, you can't just make up rules. Chess pieces don't fly."

"Humans don't fly, but my Dad can!"

"Your Dad's not human," Damian tried to explain.

"I mean, he pretty much is."

"No he's not!"

"Okay boys, we're here."

"Great," Damian jumped up immediately and headed outside.

Lois walked over to Jon to help him put the pieces away.

"I don't think he likes Chess."

"I think you should listen to the rules instead of making up your own," Lois scolded lightly, but she wasn't too upset because she was smiling.

"My rules are better."

"Helllooooo" called a cheery voice from outside and Jon peeked around looking out the window.

"It's Grandma!" he rushed out to her running to give her a hug. "I didn't know you were coming!"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, your Dad called us yesterday to see if we wanted to come."

"Grandma are you going to make your famous smores?"

"What else would we make?" she asked squishing his face affectionately.

Clark was speaking with his father who was kneeling down setting up the camp fire.

"Let me get that Dad," Clark knelt down helping him.

"Is that one of Jon's school friends?" he was glancing at Damain who seemed to be inspecting the camper.

"Ugh… sort of. That's Batman's son."

"Well it's nice that Batman's son and your can be friends."

"They're not yet. We're… hoping," he frowned a bit knowing deep down he wasn't hoping too hard. "Damian's a difficult kid."

"Well let's see how difficult," his Father said walking over to Damian.

"Damian was it?" he asked loudly.

Damian who was inspecting the Camper's wheel got to his feet. "Yes."

"I'm Jon's grandfather," he held out his hand. "Nice to meet you son."

Damian shook it politely.

"Do you like cars?"

"Not really, the alignment felt off on the way up here so I was just checking it out."

"Have you ever been camping before Damian?"

"Yes."

"Why don't you show me how you start a fire," he held out some matches.

"I got it," Damian walked over to the fire pit and reached in an inside pocket pulling out two stones. He knelt beside it and stuck the rocks together twice and the sparks that flew off it started a small blaze. He shuffled the sticks around until it gained momentum and a decent sized fire had started.

"Look at that you do know a thing or two about camping," Clark's grandfather looked impressed. "How about you help me set up the tents."

"Already done!" Jon cheered happily showing his grandfather the very shabby tent he had set up.

"Um… nice job Jon. But let's try again."

"I got it," Damian responded dully before he headed over to fix Jon's work.

"I don't think it's that bad," Jon frowned.

"My grandfather used to tell me, everything you do requires everything you have. If this is everything you have Jon it's no wonder you can't do much..."

"Hey that's not bad advice Damian," laughing off the insult, Jon's Grandpa placed a hand on Jon's shoulder as if to tell him not worry about it, before he went over to assist Damian. "What field of work was your Grandfather in?"

Damian paused a moment thinking quickly, "Networking."

Jon sulked over to Clark a slight frown on his face. "I can do things…"

"Of course you can," Clark smiled and grabbed a fishing pole. "How about you show them your fishing skills and catch us dinner."

"Yeah!" he grabbed a pole. "I'll be back!"

"Oh wonderful," Lois interrupted when she saw him heading off by himself. "Damian, go with Jon and catch some fish would you?"

"Ugh maybe that's…" Clark tried to interject. He had given Jon that task to get him away from Damian.

"C'mon it'll be fun!" Lois explained. Handing another pole to Damian and lightly pushing him in Damian's direction. Neither of the boys looked happy about it but off they went.

"Want to see who can catch the most fish?"

"Sure."

"Here looks good," he Jon pointed out a small clear patch by the river.

"Theirs too much noise from the campsite. We should head down further," he explained without waiting for Jon to agree.

"Fine…"

They walked for about ten minutes before Damian found a good spot he liked.

"Fly up a little bit and tell me where you see the most fish."

"Fly?"

"Yeah."

"I can't fly."

Damian paused upon hearing that. "Excuse me."

"I can't fly."

"Okay… jump up then."

"I can't jump that far."

"…" he was looking rather annoyed at that point. "Jon, what powers do you have?"

"Ugh… I don't think I have any. But Mom caught me trying to use heat vision once and scolded me. I was never able to do it in the end. But my Mom and Dad said I shouldn't try because they don't want me to be a super hero."

"So you have no powers. None."

"No, I think I got more of my Mom's genes than my Dad's."

"That doesn't make any sense…" Damian took out a small computer.

"What are you doing?"

"Kryptonian genes would be a dominant trait," Damian explained typing away. "So the likelihood of you having no powers at all would be next to none. Are you sure you have no powers? Maybe you can do something but you've never considered it to be a power. Can you hear you family talking from where we're standing right now?"

"Ugh, sure. I hear them just fine."

"I guess you got the hearing at least. But how about a city over, can you hear stuff that far away?"

"I don't know… I never really tried."

"Try now. Let's see…"

"I'm not supposed to."

"Look, if a human sat in a chair for 95% of their day for months on end, eventually their muscles would quit working and they would be unable to walk. It's possible powers could work the same way, if you don't try and practice you might lose your ability to use whatever powers you would have had."

"You think so?"

"Not sure. I haven't studied kryptonian dna much since until you their was only one source known on the planet. Father doesn't have a lot of information on Superman, but he had some. Anyway, it's possible. You should be using these abilities even if it's not something you can lose through lack of use. You don't want the first time you use your powers to be in the middle of a battle when someone is trying to kill you."

"My parents don't want me to fight though. They said I should do something else with my life instead of being a hero."

"Why?"

"I don't know…"

"Overlooking being a hero, you should at least have these skills to defend yourself. What if something happens and you're the only one with your Mother, or your Grandparents? How are you planning to protect them?"

"Ugh… I'd just call Dad."

"And what if he's busy. What if he's on another planet? Your Dad's fast Jon, but even he couldn't get to your Mother faster than a bullet could if he's out in space somewhere."

"Uh…"

"You should ask your Dad to train you."

"I did! Once… Dad said not to worry about it and this world is fine with just one Superman. That I should focus on being a kid and not worry about…" Jon paused. "Mom's talking to Dad about when they're going to start dinner. We should hurry up on catching fish. I'll go find some worms for bait."

"No need," Damian said reaching into one of his pouches. He pulled out a net and glanced around the river. When he decided on the best spot he threw a net into the water. There were splashes, and he started pulling the cords attached and dragged about 12 fish to shore.

"That's cheating. This is what we brought the poles for."

"My way is more efficient."

Jon frowned. He had wanted to fish…

"C'mon," Damian started walking back.

* * *

"That was fast," Clark commented when the boys returned far sooner than he had expected them.

"Damian cheated. He used a net."

"Well… We needed a number of them anyway," Lois pointed out taking the net from Damian.

"Found out your son has super hearing," Damian pointed out after handing it over. "While we wait for the fish to be cooked, we could try and see what else he can do."

The silence that met that statement mad Jon want to hide. He hadn't expected Damian to come around and be so blunt.

"That won't be necessary," Lois answered after a socially inappropriate amount of time.

"If he has super hearing, he can probably do other things," Damian pressed on. "Now is the perfect time to try this. We're miles from the nearest civilization."

"Damian," Clark had walked up behind him. "We don't want Jon learning those skills. He's going to be a normal kid. Just like you should be this weekend. How about you help cook the fish."

Jon frowned.

"Why are you ignoring this? Worried you'll be outshined by your kid?" he asked.

"Damian, you're crossing a line," Clark's voice was stern, commanding, ever so slightly threatening. "This is his Mother and my decision. And we have already decided. Now go help Lois cook."

Damian glared but in the end didn't argue the point again.

Jon walked over to his Father intending to ask him what he should do next, only Clark had appeared to turn his attention away. He was looking in the direction of the city

"Duty calls Lois, I'll be back."

"Be safe," Lois called.

"Jon help your mother and grandparents," and with that he took off into the air flying away.

Jon closed his eyes attempting to hear what his father had heard.

It took a minute but eventually he started catching sounds from town. Voices, car noises, other various city noises and… screaming. A woman was screaming. There were fire crackling sounds and not the same sounds as their campfire. She was in a burning building. Her voice was terrifying. He hadn't ever tried to hear things this far away before.

"You can hear it right?" Damian muttered as he walked over to him. "What's the problem?"

"A fire," he whispered back.

"Ah, well. Your Dad should be able to handle that," Damian said this as though if it had been something, he had deemed serious he would have gone to help.

With that Damian went to help Lois with the fish, but Jon was still listening. Alarm clocks. Screeching tires. Screaming. Keys hitting a sidewalk. A jackhammer. Closing windows. Dogs barking. Yells. Laughter. Sirens. Keyboards. Phones Ringing. Sizzling. Heels on marble. His Father speaking to the woman who had been screaming earlier. Jon closed his eyes. He had never heard so many sounds all at once, and he wasn't sure how he could turn it off.

* * *

Quite a ways away a woman was sitting in a tree looking through the scope of her gun. Though she had no intention to shoot anyone, and was using the scope more like a pair of binoculars. She had tailed them from the small farm in the countryside to this camp ground. She had assumed... but her assumptions weren't confirmed until the man took off into the air.

"Just as I thought. He's Superman... and it seems Superman has a little brat of his own."

"Shall I retrieve your son?" asked a man in assassin garb kneeling on a branch beside her.

"Don't call him that. He lost the privilege of being my son the last time he disobeyed me. But retrieving my weapon can wait. Superman having a child though... That opens up a whole world of possibilities..."

"Shall I retrieve the other boy then?"

Talia rolled her eyes. "Think for two minutes you fool. You would have to fight not only my weapon, but Superman himself and he could be back any second. I'll come up with a plan don't worry. One that will allow me to retrieve my son and his new little friend at the same time. A time when Superman won't be looking for him. Let's go. I have research to do."

With that she jumped down along with her subordinate and the two of them hurried off into the forest.

* * *

Superman didn't return until the sun was starting to fall.

"There you are," Lois said smiling. "We saved you a fish."

"Thanks," he took the plate from his wife and upon one scan across the campground he realized someone was missing. "Where is Jon?"

"He's in the camper. He said he had a headache. So he just wanted to lay down for awhile."

Superman frowned. He had never had a headache in his whole life. Well not a natural one that wasn't caused by a battle anyway. Perhaps his human half could get head aches.

"I think I'm going to check on him," he handed the plate back to Lois and then went to the camper walking inside. "Jon?"

His son was seated as far back in the camper as he could get and had two pillows pressed on either side of his head. "Go away. Go away. Go away. Go away."

"Jon?"

"Go away. Go away. Go away."

"Jon? What's wrong?"

He wouldn't stop repeating it and didn't seem able to hear him.

Clark walked over to him and physically moved the pillows from beside his face. "Jon what?"

"Dad? Dad, I hear everything!" he gasped looking scared.

Superman instantly knew what he meant. "Okay. Listen, just pull back. Change where you're focusing. The furthest thing away that you hear. Focus on something closer. Then focus on the next thing that's closer. Keep doing that until my voice is the only thing you hear."

"I can't everything's so loud," he brought his hands up to cover his ears again.

Clark reached up and pulled his hands away. "Just try."

He could tell the distance in the sounds. Not in the sense of he could pin point an exact measurement. But he knew what sounds were closer than others, so as his father had instructed he focused on the furthest sound to the ones before it. And before that. His father kept encouraging him to focus on his voice. Jon wasn't sure how long it took, but eventually all he was listening to where the sounds in his immediate vicinity. He opened his eyes.

"All better?" Clark asked.

"Yeah... Thanks."

"This is part of the reason why we don't want you using your powers, Jon. It's dangerous. When you don't know what you're doing you can cause problems, you could hurt yourself or others. Promise me, that you won't use your powers anymore."

"... I promise. Sorry."

"If it happens again just walk it back like I said," he walked back to the entrance and was about to leave when Jon stopped him.

"Dad... did you save that Lady? She sounded really scared."

"Yes son, she's fine."

"I'm glad," he jumped up running over to him. "I'm ready for Grandma's smores now!"

"So am I squirt."

Jon hurried outside running happily over to his grandmother. She had already started a nice stack of smores for people to grab as they wanted them. Clark glanced at Damian who was having a conversation with his Father. He was getting a bad feeling. But his son had promised and he had faith that Jon would keep his promise.

* * *

The remainder of the weekend passed rather quickly. Superman kept an ear out whenever Damian and Jon were speaking alone, but Damian didn't bring up Jon's powers or lack thereof again. He mostly just complained and criticized. His Father liked Damian because Damian was able to talk about similar interests. The boy seemed to know at least a little something on basically every topic.

"You are welcome to come along on our family trips anytime," Jon's grandmother said forcing Damian into a hug before they were about to board the camper they had arrived in.

"I second that," the elder Kent exclaimed ruffling Damian's hair after the suffocating hug was finished.

Damian clearly hadn't liked that and immediately attempted to fix his hair after it got messed up.

With that Jon's grandparents left in their camper and Damian and the others finished packing the last of the campsite.

"Damian do you think you'll want to come along on our next outing?" Lois asked him as they put the last of their stuff inside.

"If I'm not busy, I suppose so," Damian answered.

She smiled supposing that Damian would still have to keep face. But she was pretty sure Damian had had at least a little fun this weekend.

They drove back to the farm house and when they arrived Alfred was waiting.

So Jon said his goodbyes and Damian responded with the smallest of waves. Just enough to show he had heard him.

When Alfred shut the door after Damian had climbed inside he turned to Clark and Lois. "He is awaiting your answer. Please let him know by tonight so he can start the necessary paperwork tomorrow morning."

"Ugh... Sure," Lois answered. With a bow Alfred got into the driver's seat and drove off.

"What answer Mom? What was he talking about?" Jon was tugging on her sleeve to get her attention.

"Jon, let's talk sweetie," she held out her hand and led Jon back into the house.

She and Clark had already agreed to let Jon make this decision on his own but Clark was secretly hoping he would say no.

So they sat Jon down and explained to him how Damian needed his assistance. How he had had a hard life and needed to be a kid and that Jon could help by keeping Damian's mind on the things that children should be focusing on, instead of crime fighting and training.

"Basically, we want you two to attend school together. Damian aside, it's a great opportunity," Lois pointed out. She had handed him the pamphlet earlier in their conversation and Jon had skimmed it.

"But it's a boarding school. Doesn't that mean that I would only come home on holidays and vacations most of the time?"

"Yes... Yes it would," Lois explained.

"Jon you are under no obligation to go," Clark explained reassuringly.

"You would be helping Damian out," Lois added she had leaned forward placing an encouraging hand on his shoulder.

"Why are you trying to sway him?" Clark frowned.

"I am not trying to sway him. It's just... He'll never have an opportunity like this again. He needs to take it seriously."

Jon frowned. "You want me to go Mom?"

"I want you to do whatever you want," she assured him. But he could see the hopefulness in her eyes.

"Dad doesn't want me to go."

Their was a moment's pause before Clark put his arm around Lois. "I'm with your Mother. I want you to do whatever you want."

He looked back down at the pamphlet. "This is a school for rich kids... I won't fit in."

"Nonsense Jon, everyone will like you. You'll see."

"Can I leave, if I... If I change my mind?"

"Mr. Wayne assured us he would take care of everything," Lois had a small spark of excitement in her eyes.

"I guess it... It might not be so bad."

"Great! I'll let Mr. Wayne know. This is going to be great! You'll see!"

With that she hurried off to the other room to message Bruce.

"You're only saying yes because of your Mother aren't you?"

"Well not just her," Jon looked down at the pamphlet again. "I think Damian seemed kind of lonely and if I could help him be a regular kid and make some friends, then that would be a good thing right? I can be a hero without fighting crime, like you and Mom want."

His Dad looked a bit sad at that last sentence but he shook it off quickly and added, "Yeah. Anything you can do to make the world a better place without using your powers will be a good thing."

"Will you miss me?"

"Everyday," he answered giving his son a hug.

Meanwhile things were not going as well at the Wayne manor.

"I thought we agreed I wasn't going to boarding school!" Damian snapped. "I went on that stupid weekend with the Stepford Family like you asked. What the hell else do you want from me?"

"I want you to just be a kid. Stop worrying about crime fighting and just... Starting now. You're just Damian. No Robin. No crime fighting. Your Bruce Wayne's son. That's all."

"..." he folded his arms. "Fine."

He turned away and started heading upstairs.

"Where are you going?"

"To pack, what else?" he snapped. But as he rounded the corner and disappeared from their site. The smallest of smiles crossed his lips.

* * *

"Mom..." Jon sighed. "You've taken enough pictures."

"Oh come on, you're so adorable in that uniform."

"Dad make her stop."

"Alright, Jon's right," Clark said grabbing her phone from her. "I'll fly you to the school."

"Actually, Mr. Wayne said he was bringing a helicopter to pick Jon up for the school year."

"I could fly him..."

"But I think it would be cool to fly in a helicopter," Jon explained.

"Well it sound like it's on it's way," Clark pointed out. "You better make sure you've packed everything."

"Okay," Jon hurried up stairs.

Lois crossed her arms looking up the stairs after him. Clark could see her eyes getting a little glossy so he wrapped his arms around her. "You're the one who wanted him to go."

"I know. I know..." she signed. "It's just... It'll be a few months before we see him again."

"Nonsense, I can fly you there any time you start to miss him too much."

Jon grabbed the last of his things and his Father took come of his bags at the bottom landing. They walked outside when the helicopter landed and as soon as the propellers stopped and it was quiet enough Lois could hear Damian arguing with Alfred. "Look we'll get there quicker if you'd let me drive."

"Not a chance Master Damian," and with that he stepped out and bowed to Lois and Clark. "Apologies for..."

"Hurry up and get in," Damian interrupted frowning. He had thrown open the side door for Jon to climb up. He put all his stuff into the back and Damian latched it down so it wouldn't shift about during the flight. After putting one foot up to climb in he stopped.

"Wait I forgot something."

"What did you-" Lois began but stopped immediately. He ran up to hug her.

"I'll miss you."

Her eye immediately filled up as she hugged him back. "I'll miss you too."

"Hey what about me?" Clark asked teasingly.

"I'll miss you too Dad," Jon hugged him next before climbing up to sit beside Damian. He pulled the seat belt around him.

"Can we leave now or did you forget to hug your Teddy bear too?"

"Don't be mean, didn't you hug your Mom goodbye before you left?" Jon asked.

"Sure did, then she gave me a handmade blankie and told me to stay warm at night."

"Really? I have one my Grandma gave me."

Damian rolled his eyes, "Jesus fuck, grow up Jon I was kidding..."

"Oh..." he frowned.

By that point Alfred was done speaking with his parents and had climbed back up into the pilot's seat. So Jon waved goodbye until they were too small to see. He didn't forget the real reason he was going here. To help Damian be a normal kid. That was the goal. Which it shouldn't be too hard. He had lots of normal kid things with him. Video games, comic books, etc.

He was absolutely ready to teach Damian how to be a normal kid.

Though he was also there to study, as his Mother had reminded him several times. While he liked school it wasn't the school part he enjoyed. It was the playing, the games, the being with friends part that he liked. So he hoped this school had lots of sports and fun games to play.

* * *

The helicopter ride had started off really fun and exciting. He had only ever flown with his Father or that one time when his mother and he took a plane. Though this trip was longer than he thought and he was starting to get bored.

"Mr. Alfred Sir... Are we there yet?"

"Almost Master Jon."

"You can just call me Jon, it sounds weird when you talk like that. I'm not anyone special."

"Nonsense you're Master Damian's friend and the son of Master Wayne's colleague."

"That don't make me anyone special," he pointed out again.

Shortly after the school came into view. It was a large building out in the mountains. It looked very fancy.

"Alright Jon, just follow my lead. These kids are the children of some of the wealthiest families around the world. So just keep your mouth shut and let me do all the talking."

"I can't talk to them?"

"Nope."

"How am I supposed to make friends if I can't talk to anyone?"

"You don't want to make friends here," Damian pointed out.

"Master Damian, let's not encourage that," Alfred scolded as he made the landing on the roof of the school. Their were a number of adults standing up on the roof prepared to greet them.

"Ugh," Damian rolled his eyes. The propellers slowed down and the door opened. Damian stepped out and man in a suit immediately rushed to shake his on.

"Ah, young Mr. Wayne. It's a pleasure. I am Gregory Ingram the Head Master of this School. This is Evelyn Duke, she oversees your history, and language, courses. This is Olivia Atherton she'll oversee your science, Math courses. Then their is Isaac Beckett our head chef please feel free to set up all your meal in advance if you wish. I will-"

Jon was standing back when he felt Alfred place a hand on his shoulder. "Don't listen to Master Damian. I encourage you to make as many friends as possible."

"I will, don't worry."

With that Alfred let out a small cough to alert the attention of the adults away from Damian. "This is Jon Kent, he will be attending this school as well. You may want to include him in your introductions."

"Well yes I suppose so, you caught all that didn't you?" Mr. Ingram asked a little rudely.

"I guess so-" Jon was interrupted almost immediately.

"My Father is paying for him to attend this school with me, and my staying here is basically contingent on how much he enjoys it. I didn't really want to come in the first place," Damian pointed out before turning away from them and heading through the doors into the school. The adults were taking a much greater interest in him after that and they hurried to catch up with Damian to give the boys a tour. Jon made sure to wave goodbye to Alfred before the escorted through the doors and was shuffled with Damian down corridor after corridor. Not only did they go on and on about the world class education being offered but they spoke about the building as though it itself was on display. they talked about statues and pillars, and the moldings and the years they were brought about to the school.

Jon was about ready to fall asleep by the end of it. It was all rather boring.

"The other students are attending classes already, but your first day will be tomorrow. In the meantime we've had your bags taken to your room and unpacked for you as well. Feel free to call our Chef when it's time for dinner. Please enjoy your night," Mr. Ingram the other adults departed with a slight bow. All except for Mrs. Atherton who showed them to their room. The door closed, and finally! No more tour. Jon immediately ran over to one of the two large beds and jumped on it.

"I call this one!"

"Check the drawers dummy, they already unpacked for us," Damian explained.

Jon knelt down by the drawers that were built into their beds and realized the one he jumped on had Damian's stuff on it.

"Aw... that one's yours."

"I know it is. I told them I preferred the bed closest to the balcony."

"Why?"

"In case someone tries to break in," he explained simply undoing his tie he let it rest on the back of the chair of one of the desks.

"Why would someone break in here?" Jon asked.

"Oh I don't know. Probably because Superman and Batman's sons are attending school here."

"Why would that mean someone wants to break in? And no one knows I'm Superman's son anyway. My Mom said that's our family's secret."

"You'd be surprised what villains can find out about if they try hard enough," Damian took out a laptop. "So, from this moment on you can consider this room our version of the Batcave. No one comes in here, so if you do happen to make some friends, don't bring them in our room."

"Ugh... What do we need a Batcave for?"

"Research."

"Research on what?"

Without looking up from the computer Damian pointed at him.

"Me?"

"We need to figure out the limits of your power, and exactly how much of Superman's power's you've inherited. Plus how much of a hindrance your human genes are on said powers," he spun in the chair to face Jon. "I've actually been looking forward to coming here, but I couldn't let my Father know that because he would think something was up. It's been a few years since I've trained someone. I rather enjoy the challenge of learning a person's limits and helping them exceed it. I once fancied being a teacher one day if the whole, taking over the world thing with my Grandfather didn't work out. Spoiler alert, it didn't work out. So I'll be spending this time training you."

"Wait a minute, that's not why I'm here."

"I'm sorry do you have something better to do?" he asked in a cocky tone and Jon felt a little taken aback.

"Yeah, we're supposed to be going to school!" Jon explained.

"I see no reason why we can't do both."

"My Mom also... I mean... I'm supposed to be helping you learn to be a normal kid..."

Damian's eyes widened a little at that and then he let out a soft laugh, before turning back to his computer. "Was that Father's reasoning? That's very cute, now he decides to try to be a parent. Well then I will play the part of a normal kid so he won't suspect anything, and train you in the meantime."

"I don't want training, Dad said learning to use my powers could be dangerous..."

"Did you ever stop to think Jon, that not learning to use your powers could be just as dangerous?"

"..." he frowned. No he hadn't thought of that...

"Mom and Dad don't want me using my powers and I want to respect that."

By this point Damian was staring up at him with a bored expression on his face. "Fine. But tell me what you're going to do when your sitting down for your family dinner one night, you sneeze, your heat vision goes off and next thing you know you've melted your Mother's face all over the turkey dinner?"

"Uh..."

"Or lets say you're on a taxi in town and well big surprise one of the Justice League's villains just took out the bridge in front of you. Your cab driver gets his face smashed in from the force of hitting the water, and you see a family in the car next to you with a small child whose drowning banging on the window, and you were the only one close enough to stop any of that. But no... you didn't want to learn to control your powers so all that death is now on your head."

"ah..." Jon was wide eyed and already looking rather scared. These sorts of thoughts had evidently never crossed his mind.

"Or were you just banking on your Daddy always being there to save the day?" he asked in an overly mocking tone.

"..."

"News flash Jon," he spun his computer screen around and hit play on a video. Which was a compilation of security footage featuring times Superman had failed or needed help. "Your Father doesn't always save the day."

Jon walked over to the computer screen and pulled it close.

"Sorry, but you needed the wake up call."

"Why is he so hurt... He's injured. I... I didn't think my Dad could get injured..." Jon was looking horrified.

"He probably didn't want you to worry so he waited until his injuries healed before he went home. He heals faster than humans do. So it wouldn't have taken too long for most injuries," Damian explained.

"What's that? It's hurting him?"

Damian took the computer back to look at what Jon was talking about. The enemy that Superman was facing there had kryptonite in his arms. How on earth did Jon not know about that?

"Seriously?" Damian frowned. "That's kryptonite, it's one of your Dad's weaknesses. Did you really not know that?"

"I've never heard of it..."

"Christ Clark," Damian sighed leaning back in his chair looking genuinely disappointed in Jon's lack of education about his own family, "And I thought _my_ Dad kept shit from me..."

"What other weaknesses does he have?"

"What?"

"You said kryptonite was one of Dad's weaknesses?" Jon pointed out. "What else? I should know..."

"I thought it was obvious Jon," Damian was eyeing him. Almost like he couldn't believe that Jon could be that stupid.

"Tell me," It wasn't a question. He had to know.

"It's you. It's your Mother. Do you honestly think your Father wouldn't put down arms and give himself up if your or your Mother's life was ever threatened?"

"..."

"If I needed to take down Superman tomorrow. I would put you somewhere he couldn't get to and threaten to kill you if he didn't do exactly as I demanded," Damian explained. "I guarantee your Father would do whatever I asked. No question."

"..."

"Which is one more reason why you should learn to control your powers. If someone ever did try something. You have a much better chance of stopping a situation like that when you can use your powers than being the helpless brat you are now," he pointed out.

"Their is a reason why most of the Justice League don't have children. They're a liability. They're a weakness. I was mistake on my Father's part. Not so much on my Mother's. If given a choice I guarantee my Father would have opted that I not be born. Because he knows that in his line of work children don't help. On the flip side you were planned, you were raised, you are loved. Which makes you a bigger weakness for Superman than even kryptonite."

"So, you can not learn to use your powers. Live in your happy little, perfect life, fantasy bubble and quite possibly one day be the cause of your Father or Mother's demise. Or you can learn, you can fight, and one day quite possibly be the reason one of them survives."

"Look," Damian closed his computer. "I'm not going to make you do anything. It's your choice. Own it. Don't regret it, their will be no changing it. If you tell me tomorrow you don't want to do this, I will leave this school and move on. But if you do decide to train with me, then you work hard and give me everything you have."

"..." Jon couldn't look Damian in the eyes. The idea that he might actually be the reason his Mother or Father were lost one day... Just the thought of that was painful...

"We'll talk in the morning. I'm getting a shower, then I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

With that said, he went to the bathroom and Jon walked over falling onto his bed.

Their is a point in every child's life when they come to the realization that their parent's cant do everything, that they're not heroes. Jon's Father was a hero. One of the most powerful heroes to ever exist, and he had to come to the realization that even heroes fall sometimes. But he couldn't stand the thought of being the reason for his Father's decent. Was he really a liability? Was he really his Father's weakness...

When Damian got out of the shower, he paused noticing Jon hadn't moved once from the spot he had sat on when he went in.

He smiled. "So you already made a decision huh?"

"..." Jon looked at him. He didn't say a word. He didn't have to.

"We'll start tomorrow then," Damian sat down on his bed.

"No," Jon took off his glasses (which he didn't need anyway) and put them on the bedside table. "We'll start tonight."

* * *

Their wasn't enough room for any physical training in their dorm. So Damian decided to teach Jon about weapons. What they were for and how to use them. He had brought a wide array of weapons with him and told Jon he was going to show him how to build a fake drawer so that they could hide these in such a way that even if someone opened their drawers they wouldn't find anything.

"So why do I need to know this?"

"What do you mean why?"

"I mean, We're going to teach me to use my Dad's powers so... I don't really need to know how to use swords or guns..."

"First off," Damian picked up one of his knives that was looking a little dull and examined the blade. "We don't know what powers from your Dad you've inherited. We can reasonably assume you got them all but we won't know for sure without further testing. Their is also a chance that kryptonian powers are numerous but people might only inherit certain ones. So their is a chance that you might have powers your Father doesn't have. Like when children are born with an eye color that matches one of their grandparent's rather than one of their parents. Their is a chance you might have little to none of his powers and you take more after your human side. In which case knowing how to use a weapon or two certainly won't hurt."

He put the knife back muttering to himself that he would have to sharpen that one later.

"Secondly, their are a number of villains who have been looking into ways of nullifying the powers of Superman, Wonder woman, Flash, etc. Let's pretend that this technology was finalized. I guarantee your Dad would be next to useless if he lost his powers tomorrow. He doesn't fight outside of, _punch something really hard_ , and he's not aware of a lot of ways of using technology to his advantage. The fight would be over in seconds, and someday if you were ever stripped of your powers you would at least still be able to fight. It's never a bad thing to have more skills than necessary."

"Isn't that what that Kryptonite does?"

"Not exactly. It seems to cause muscle weakness and pain. It doesn't exactly remove the powers though."

"So does that technology actually exist, or are you assuming?"

"The tech's a few years out. But I've seen plans for such things floating around the internet. It think my Dad is the closest one to perfecting it."

"Why would your Dad be making something like that?"

"Cause he plans for everything, and if given the choice I'm sure he would rather nullify your Father's powers in the case that he goes rogue or gets controlled by some evil entity, than have to do something that causes him severe pain. We don't know what if any long term effects results from being exposed to kryptonite. For all we know it could kill him. And if a situation ever arose where we needed to subdue Superman for a few days... It would be better to have something like that."

"Right..."

"Besides that, it's rare. Not a lot of people have kryptonite. So it shouldn't be something you or your father should have to worry about too much in battle."

"Sure."

"But we will be testing kryptonite on you at some point. So be prepared for that."

"Wait you have some, I thought you said that stuff was rare."

"It is, but I too plan for everything, and I wasn't about to share a dorm with the grandson of krypton without having some."

Jon grinned. "You really see me as that much of a threat?"

"Don't flatter yourself," Damian scolded. "It's so when I'm training you if your powers get out of control I can stop you."

Jon looked a little worried at that. "Do... Do you think that's likely?"

"Not a chance, it's just a precaution, I'd rather be over prepared than under," Damian explained. But that wasn't completely the truth. It was very likely, but he didn't want to discourage Jon before they had even started.

"Well, I introduced you to all the weapons, and what they're for. I'll test you on it tomorrow. Goodnight."

"Wait, I didn't write anything down!" Jon pointed out. "Let's go over it again."

"You have to learn to memorize things, you're not always going to have a pen and paper on you."

With that Damian crawled into bed, and Jon followed suit climbing into his own bed desperately trying to run through all the weapons he had been shown and realizing he forgot the names of most of them. They turned off the light and the Moon coming in off the balcony window was enough to illuminate the furniture around them.

"Hey Damian. I have a question."

Half stifling a yawn he answered, "Ask away, their are no stupid questions."

"If I ate a really really small amount of kryptonite each day would I eventually get immune."

"... I take it back that's a very stupid question. Just go to sleep," he rolled over fully intending to ignore him the rest of the night.


	2. LexCorp Museum of Arts and Science

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damian begins training Jon in secret and making the necessary arrangements to find them the time and the space to train in. But this could all be over before it begins when a trip to the LexCorp Museum of Arts and Science goes horribly wrong and Jon finds out what kryptonite feels like long before Damian had initially planned.

Jon felt a series of metal devices hit his chest and he bolted upright. Damian had dumped a number of locks onto him. Confused Jon picked up one of them looking annoyed.

"Here you go," Damian said handing him a small piece of metal. "It's a lock pick. Their are over 100 locks there. Every morning this is the first thing you'll do. you're going to unlock each one, and I'll time you. You won't have to do this exercise anymore when you can complete them in seconds."

"Seriously?" he frowned. "What time is it?"

"4 am," Damian explained.

"Seriously? Our first class isn't until 8."

"Their are only 24 hours in a day, we're in class for 9 of them. You'll be sleeping for only 6 of them. Which leaves us a grand total of 9 hours to train you," Damian pointed out while he pulled a stop watch out of his pocket. "Begin."

"..." Jon frowned. "I've never used one of these before..."

"It's a lock pick, don't you at least watch movies?" he asked.

"I mean... sure... But... Why are we even doing this? We should just practice heat vision. I could melt any lock I come across."

Frowning Damian stopped the timer and walked over sitting on the edge of his bed. He pulled his own lock pick out of his shoe and one by one started opening the different locks. Each one he opened within' 3 seconds of picking it up. "You never know when you might one day find yourself without powers. Or when you might be in a predicament where using your powers is inconvenient. We start with the basics. By having you attempt to beat your time you'll improve your super speed as well as your lock picking skills. I can open a typical lock in 3 seconds or less. I want you to work your way up to opening 100 locks in the same time it takes me to do one."

"Okay... well how do you use this?" he asked picking up one of the locks and the lock pick.

"Watch me I'm showing you," Damian explained.

"This isn't a watch me situation, I can't see what you're doing in there."

"Really? Isn't x-ray vision a power of your Dad's? Try."

Jon brought the lock closer and closer to his eyes. Once it was less than an inch from his face Damian hit the back of Jon's hand so he smacked himself in the face with his lock. "Ow! Hey!"

"Idiot that's not how this works!"

"Well how do you know?"

"I know Superman doesn't walk up to a wall before he can see through it," Damian put down his lock and grabbed Jon's hand holding it a foot away from his face.

"Look at it. Don't try too hard. Just try to see into it."

Jon looked back down at it and concentrated. He tried imagining that he could see into the object. He tried widening his eyes. He tried narrowing them. None of it helped. After a minute of starting at the object he glanced up at Damian who didn't look pleased.

"I'll hack in to the bat cave servers later and see what my Dad has on your Father's powers. In the meantime I'll teach you how to do this without x-ray vision, the way I do it." He proceeded to explain how their were pins inside locks and you basically had to feel them out and push them down. After a few attempts he was finally able to unlock one.

"Alright!"

"Great, do the rest of them. I won't time you today, but starting tomorrow I will. After that, make your bed and get your shower. You're able to use super hearing to an extent right now correct?"

"A little," he admitted as he started working on the next lock.

"When your in class today, you're going to listen in on the class next to yours."

"What why?"

"Because you're practicing your super hearing. And I'm going to steal that classes's exams so you can take the tests when they do. Each week you're going to add another class to what your listening to and learn what they're learning."

"I understand practicing my hearing, but that's too much information to retain. I like school, but I don't like it enough to attend every class here."

"Knowledge itself is a form of power. Your education up to this point has been mediocre at best. You never know what information can be useful or when you'll need it. So you have a lot of catching up to do. After class, we'll start working on..."

"Okay stop... seriously, this is too much," Jon explained. "Let's just focus on one thing at a time."

"You don't have time to focus on only one thing at a time. We don't know how long we have to do this. If our Father's find out about this training, they'll put a stop to it. I'm going to do my best to take every precaution I can to try to prevent them from finding out. But if your Father wanted to, he could use his super vision and super hearing to spy on us at any time, and at that point it will all be over."

"..."

"My Dad respects people's privacy, he wouldn't spy on us..."

"My Father would," Damian explained. "I need to find us somewhere where we can train in secret as well as have the room to test your powers without worrying about hurting anyone or damaging property."

"The schools gym?"

"No... Anyone can go there. I need something like... like our bat cave..."

How are you going to get that?"

"By convincing Father I need one."

"The whole point of this was you learning to be a normal kid though..." Jon unlocked another lock and set it off to the side. "What else would you need a bat cave for but to train?"

"..." Damian started pacing a little, clearly in deep thought. "Goliath..."

"Go what?"

"My pet Goliath."

"You have a pet?"

"A few actually but he's the most useful on a mission. I picked him up not that long ago, he lives at our manor in Gotham. But..."

Damian hurried over to his bed pulling out one of the drawers below he started shuffling through it until he pulled out a whistle in the shape of a skull. Jon completely forgot about the locks he was supposed to be working on and watched him with interest.

He blew into it but it made no sound.

"Aw, it's broken..."

"No, it's not. It'll take him a few hours to fly here," Damian explained.

"Who?"

"I told you. My pet."

"Like a dog?"

"No he's a bat dragon."

Jon frowned. "Do you just put bat in front of everything to make it sound cool."

"No. He's part bat and part dragon," Damian explained. "But bat-cow is... just a cow."

"You have cows?" Jon was surprised by that. "Does your Dad own a farm too?"

"He owns a lot of things. I'm sure he probably has a farm somewhere among his many properties. But bat-cow is mine. I saved him. So he lives in the bat cave with me."

"Sounds like you like animals. I didn't expect that from you," Jon returned to the locks.

"Why?" Damian looked slightly offended.

"I don't know, you act like your better than the world, like you hate everything."

"I don't hate everything," Damian exclaimed looking upset. "Some things sure... Whatever just, do that faster. You're supposed to be practicing your speed. Later I'm testing you on my weapons. So I hope you were paying attention."

With that Damian marched over to his desk, he pulled his laptop close and buried himself away in it while Jon finished up with the locks. As soon as he was done he jumped up to take a shower.

"Uh-uh. Make your bed first," Damian demanded.

"Why? I just have to unmake it again tonight when I go to sleep."

"Make your bed."

"That doesn't have anything to do with training."

"It does, and I'm not going to ask you a third time," Damian didn't turn away from his computer.

Reluctantly he made the bed haphazardly and then went to take his shower. When he got out he found his bed unmade.

"Hey, what did—"

"Look at my bed," Damian demanded. "Their isn't a wrinkle in it."

He reached in his pocked walked over, and bounced a quarter off the mattress. "Now make yours, the same way."

"What difference does it make?"

"It's discipline. Which is something else you need to learn. Just do it."

Feeling foolish he re-made the bed with no wrinkles. Matching Damian's as best he could. "Happy?" Jon asked when he was done.

"Good enough for today I suppose. It's only 5:30 though. We have time to practice something else before class," he started mumbling through superman's powers. "Flight, x-ray vision, ice breath..."

Damian stopped having seemed to settle on one. "That's something we can try..."

He grabbed a pen and held it out to Jon, "Blow on this."

"Oh this is something I can do!" Jon said excitedly. "I once froze my birthday candle."

He exhaled on the pen, but nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing. "Well... I did it, one time..."

Damian frowned.

"Should I try doing it a different way?"

"Ugh... Not sure. I'll do research on that too."

Jon looked disheartened and Damian racked his brain thinking quickly. "This isn't going to be easy and you aren't going to learn things in one night. Accept that now. You have a near impossible task of learning skills and abilities that most people don't have, and I have the near impossible task of teaching you things that I'll never be able to learn. So we just have to accept that theirs going to be a lot of trial and error involved. Don't get discouraged."

"I'm not..." he lied. "It just looks so easy when my Dad does these things."

"For him it probably is easy, but he's also kryptonian. You're only half. Some of the things we're trying to learn you might not even have the capability to do and as I already explained the other night. It's possible that you might have a power your Father doesn't have. We'll be on the lookout for that as well. So you update me on everything that goes on with you. You develop other powers, you have anything go amiss with your genetics or your health. You tell me, immediately. Got it?"

"Got it!" Jon answered. "It sure would be easier if my Dad was training me."

"Probably, but that also wouldn't be as much fun for me."

A loud thump and a roar, a sound of something mixed between a bear and a lion met their ears. Jon turned towards the balcony where a large red creature was glaring in through the glass doors.

"There he is," Damian jumped up opening the balcony doors. The creature immediately pushed his way through the opening and licked Damian's face. It was huge. If this were a normal sized dorm he wouldn't have been able to enter, but because of Batman's money their room was huge so even though the creature took up a large portion of it their was still room for it to move around. Fuzzy, red, with long claws, small eyes. It would be terrifying to most people. But Jon thought he looked something like a mix between a cat and a bear, with behavioral tendencies more like a dog.

"Aw, he's kind of cute," Jon said looking up at him.

"And all part of my plan," Damian explained taking out his cell phone he motioned for Jon to be quite and then hit the speed dial button.

"Yes Master Damian?"

"Pennyworth, Goliath is here. Did you let him out?"

"No Master Damian, he must have—"

"What am I supposed to do with this monstrosity? Hide him under my bed?"

"I will have him collected immediately," Alfred answered.

"He'll just escape again, he clearly misses me, and more important than that he's my responsibility. Tell Father I'll keep him here, but I need somewhere to store him away from my school."

"I understand, is their somewhere you can keep him temporarily?"

"I'll figure something out," Damian answered. "But this won't work out for long. So tell Father to hurry."

With that Damian hung up on Alfred.

"The batcave is as good as built," Damian grinned patting Goliath's head, the creature looked pleased at the attention. "Alright, the weapons, I'm testing you now."

Jon's face fell, and he frantically tried to recall the names and uses of all the weapons he was shown yesterday.

* * *

"You're quiet," Clark said softly over breakfast that morning.

"It's a little strange not having Jon at the table with us..." Lois admitted she looked over at the spot where Jon would usually eat breakfast with them.

Clark grabbed her hand softly and kissed the back of it. "It will get easier. Don't worry."

"I know... What plans do you have today?"

"The usual," Clark poured some coffee in two to go cups and Lois picked up their used plates putting them in the sink. "You?"

"I actually have something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Shoot."

Lois walked over and put on her coat. She took one of the cups from him grabbed her purse while she explained, "This little farm is a ways from where we work. Jon will only be home summers and holidays until he graduates, and it doesn't make as much sense these days to live way out here. Maybe we could move to the city."

"Leave the countryside... I don't know."

"You might be able to zoom to work in a few seconds, but it's an inconvenient hour long drive for me."

"I could fly you each morning," Clark suggested.

"Right, that wouldn't be suspicious at all. Me showing up day after day without my car when people know how far away we live. That just screams you're married to Superman. It's like you don't even want to have a secret identity," Lois teased.

"I have to have one. For your sake as well as Jon's."

"I know tough guy," she stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. "Just think about it."

With that she hurried off to the car. Superman glanced back at their home. He had specifically wanted a farmhouse out in the country when Lois and he got married. He wanted Jon to be raised similarly to how he was brought up. It was important to him. But... with all these new changes. Maybe it was time for a another one.

* * *

This school was very different from his old one. While he was there as a Kent, all the teachers seemed to know the Wayne family was funding his being there and he was treated like Damian was by the staff. They were ingratiating towards him. Overly kind, they spoke to him like he was someone special. As for the other kids. They spoke to one another like adults. Talking about companies and whatever portfolio's were. They constantly dropped names and mentioned their parents and seemed to take every opportunity to bring up something their family's owned. He hadn't heard one mention of things normal kids spoke of. No comic books, no mention of cartoons, no toys, or even video games.

He didn't get to see much of Damian. Even though they went to the same school they weren't in the same grade. He was 9 and Damian was 12. So he was hanging around other 12 year olds.

Then the classes. They were advanced. Far ahead of where he was at his old school. Jon was completely lost in most of his classes and by the end of the first day he was slightly regretting coming here. Though it did help him to know that he had another reason for being here than just school. He met up with Damian on the walk back to the dorm that night.

"How was your first day?" Jon asked attempting to act cheerful.

"It was a day," Damian responded dully. He scanned the hall to make sure no one was listening. "Did you listen in on the class next to yours?"

"Oh... oops. I forgot."

"You forgot?" Damain looked instantly annoyed. "The only reason we're putting up with any of this is to train you. I forgot is not an excuse!"

Jon frowned.

"If you're not going to take this seriously," he swung the door to their dorm open. "I will leave. If you're not giving your all, the I have better things to be—"

Their dorm was trashed. Everything was ripped or gnawed on. Their clothes had been pulled from the closet. Damian's laptop had a cracked screen and a section of the carpet was pulled back. Goliath was curled up on the pile of cloth he had dragged to one of the corners of the room. Jon hurried and closed he door behind them.

"Goliath! Bad! You know better!" Damian scolded.

The creature let out a soft whimper. It's ears went down and it's tail wrapped around looking upset.

"Don't you pull that face with me. You know damn well what you did," Damian snapped. "Look at this place..."

"To be fair, you probably should have taken him somewhere else..." Jon pointed out. "Animals should be in open spaces."

"I thought he could be left alone until tonight," Damian frowned. He pulled of his jacket and started unbuttoning his shirt. "I'll take him to the woods in back of the school."

He went over to his closet and pulled out a grey and black outfit that he started to put on. "Not going as Robin?"

"Father took my suit away," Damian explained. "So I have to wear this old thing..."

"Old thing?" Jon questioned.

When Damian finished getting dressed he went to the mirror looking at his old assassin uniform.

"Never thought i would have to wear this again..." Damian said to himself.

"What is it?"

"Don't worry about it," he turned around and grabbed the chain attached to Goliath. "Move it!"

"Want me to help?"

"You don't have a costume," he pointed out. "Last thing anyone needs to see is someone in the school's uniform riding off on a dragon. Stay here I'll be back soon."

With that he pulled the cloth of his uniform up to cover his face and checked that the coast was clear and then mounted Goliath before taking off into the air. Jon looked around at the room. Some of his stuff had been ruined too. Including...

His cell phone.

He hadn't brought it with him because they couldn't have it out in their classes anyway. Their were bite marks on it and the screen was cracked. He hit the on button but it wouldn't turn on.

"Darn," he sighed.

"Jon?"

He jumped, and spun around. "Dad!?"

Superman was there looking around the room.

"What happened?"

"Uh..." Jon couldn't hide this and was not quick enough on his feet to come up with a convincing lie for what happened here. So he told his Father about Damian's pet and kept to the story Damian told Alfred. That it had traveled there of his own accord and they hid it in the dorm when they went to class.

"I see..."

"Why are you here?" Jon asked.

"Your Mother was texting you to see how your first day went, but she hadn't gotten a response."

"Oh, I left my phone here when I went to class," he held it out. "Goliath broke it."

Superman took it from him and examined it. "We'll get you a new one."

"Thanks."

"So, how was your first day?"

"Great, it's not as bad as I thought it would be."

"I'm glad. Keep up the good work son. I have to go now. I'll get you a new phone tomorrow so make sure you call your Mother. You know how she worries."

"I will, don't worry."

Superman waved and the next second was gone. He left so quickly that a few of the papers and clothing in the room fluttered with his departure. Jon did his best to clean up what he could, but he had no clue how to repair broken furniture or ripped clothing.

He heard Damian's grappling hook connect with the edge of the balcony a few minutes later and saw Damian climb over. He pulled his mask down when he got in. "Don't tell me we've already been found out..."

"No Dad was just checking up on me because I hadn't responded to my Mother's messages," he explained to Damian how Goliath had messed up his phone. "She was just worried about me so he wanted to make sure I was okay."

Damian's stern expression softened slightly and he reached into his pocket and brought out his cell phone which he tossed to Jon nonchalantly. "Use my phone, call your Mother."

"Shouldn't you call yours first?"

"Why?"

"It's your first day of school. Parents like to hear about stuff like that."

"... I've already talked to her today," Damian changed out of his assassin uniform before stating he was going to get some food. He left the dorm and Jon called his Mother. She had very much wanted to hear about her son's day. Jon had to do a little lying of his own because he didn't want her to know exactly what he felt about being there.

* * *

The next day Damian timed him on the locks. He was able to open all of them in about seven minutes. Damain explained that he wanted that time beat tomorrow. He told Jon to make his bed again and Jon argued the point of it once more but gave in an made it in the end. When in class Jon made a conscious effort to listen in on the lesson in the room beside his. It was a higher level math class, the one he was seated in was history. It was very difficult listening to both lectures but he decided to divide his notebooks down the middle and put his notes on one side and the other class' notes on the other. The result was two sets of half assed lecture notes and neither one being comprehensive.

Wishing he could ask his Father about how these things worked he sat down on a stump outside during a free period attempting to fill in the blanks in his notes with what he could remember. This was especially hard in the other class because he wasn't signed up for the other class and thus didn't have a book for it.

His book was ripped out from below his pen and he looked up to find Damian eyeing his work.

"Well I can see you tried, that's something," he admitted before closing his notebook and tucking it away with his own stuff.

"Uh, Damian that's mine."

"Take your notes mentally and you'll never lose them," Damian pointed out.

"Are you nuts?" Jon jumped up and made to grab his notebook back but Damian dodged him easily. "I can't remember two entire lectures without taking notes."

"Yes you can. I don't take notes," Damian pointed out.

"Well that's you."

"Tell you what, the day you can take this notebook from me, is the day I'll let you take notes again. How about that?" Jon wanted to punch him. It was one thing to train him, it was a whole other thing to boss him around, take his things, and decide whether or not his bed should be made.

He was getting really annoyed and he kicked the stump he had been sitting on moments before and... it cracked. Almost clean through.

"Good one," Damian said encouragingly. "It's pretty thick, it's not rotted. Looks like some of your super strength is shining through. But cracking a stump isn't going to be good enough in an actual fight. It's not my free period so I gotta head back in. Just read your text book and store the information in your head."

With that Damian turned away and headed back up to the building.

* * *

The park looked like a battle ground. Uprooted trees. Broken pavement. A shattered statue. But at least the villain had been neutralized and was being escorted off to jail right now. Batman was finishing up discussions with the officers, and Superman was bantering with some children who had witnessed their fight and he felt a tug on his cape from one of the children.

"Superman are you and Wonder Woman dating?"

He laughed nervously, "No, we're not."

"You should. You would have such cute babies!"

"Uh... Why don't you go find your parents, it's best to clear the way and let the police do their jobs."

After a few pictures the kids rushed off happily.

"I'm heading back to Gotham," Batman informed him.

"So, do you know about this Goliath?"

"Why?"

"I guess he trashed Jon and Damian's dorm. I have to send Jon a new phone cause of that thing."

Batman looked around before leaning in closely, "Could you not mention our children's names while in uniform? Anyone could be listening."

"No one's around," Superman pointed out.

"Nevertheless," he growled as only Batman can and turned he turned away. "I'll reimburse you."

He used his grappling hook and was gone from view shortly after. So Superman found a place to get back into his normal clothes and he went to meet Lois as she got out of work.

"He's mad you know," Lois said as soon as she spotted him. He didn't need to ask who. He had taken an extended break to see to the villains that had arrived and their boss at the Daily Planet clearly didn't like it.

"I'll make it up to him," Superman explained frowning.

"You're going to get fired one of these days."

"I'll find him a good story to take his mind off it."

They headed to a nearby store to purchase a new phone for Jon and then they made the long drive home talking about their day and stories they were working on. It all felt like a normal day until Lois walked in the door of their home, and threw her keys onto the table by the door. "Jon we're home. Did you get your homework done—"

She paused. "Right..."

Clark smiled. "I could fly you to see Jon when I drop his phone off."

"No, it's only his second day away from us. He'll think I'm being silly and overprotective," she laughed softly at her own actions. "Go ahead and take him the phone and have him call me tonight. I'll get dinner ready."

Clark kissed her reassuringly. "I'll be back."

* * *

Jon went to his remaining classes without his notebook and found it difficult keeping up with the information, When class was over he approached Damian as soon as he spotted him in the hallway.

"It doesn't work!" he complained. "Give me my notebook back."

"No."

"Damian this isn't funny, I'm trying to do well here, you already want me listening to two classes at the same time. Well I need to take notes then. I don't know how you would expect anyone to—"

Damian held up his hand to silence him as soon as they were back in their dorm.

"Sit down, close your eyes," he demanded.

"Why?"

"I'm going to show you how to take notes with your mind.

"..." Jon folded his arms furiously.

"Close your eyes," he repeated and mumbled a complaint about his not being able to follow basic directions.

Sighing he closed his eyes.

And Damian opened up a nearby text book and flipping to the start of a random chapter he read, "Born to two actors in 1809, Edgar Allan Poe became a famous writer in fields such a poetry, and fiction. Though regarded as one of the most popular figures of American literature, he struggled early on to make a living from this career gaining most of his notoriety after his death in 1849. Orphaned at a young age, he was informally adopted by John Allen and his wife. Though clashing frequently with Mr. Allen he lived in their care until he reached young adulthood. Though he attempted higher education, going into the army, and becoming an officer, he ultimately failed in every endeavor choosing to put much of his focus into writing and poetry."

He stopped because Jon was looking confused.

"What year was Edgar born?"

"I don't know..."

"Who was Mr. Allen?"

"Uh, his Dad."

"Adopted Father," Damian corrected. "The difference could mean a point on your exam depending how picky the teacher wanted to be."

"Which is why I should be taking notes," Jon explained.

"Imagine a place. Pick somewhere you spend a lot of time in."

"... Okay." He choose his bedroom back home.

"What do you imagine when you think of actors?"

"Uh, I imagine fancy cars, cameras, nice clothes, that carpet they walk on to award ceremonies and they win those gold statues."

Damian brought his hand up, "That's a good visual so take that statue and imagine their a two figures on it. Hold it in your hand feel the weight of it. Feel the temperature. It's probably gold. Look at how shiny it is."

He imagined these things as Damian said them.

"Now you have heat vision. Imagine you're engraving 1809 on that trophy. You feel the heat from the lazers on your hands. It's hot, but it doesn't burn. If it makes a noise as it's burning the figures. You hear that as well."

He pictured it.

"Now put it somewhere. A shelf would probably be best so you can store more information there."

In his imagination, Jon walked over and placed the figure on a shelf in his room. Imagining the clank sound as it connected with the surface.

"That's your Poe shelf, everything you learn about this author you attach an object to the information and you physically imagine yourself placing it on said shelf," Damian explained. "Later when you come back to it, it's going to be easier to recall those objects rather than the information itself, but as you go through the objects in your head picking it up, and holding them, with automatically pull the recall files in your brain and you'll remember the information attached to that item. The more sensory information you can attach to the object the more likely you are to remember it. Taste, Touch, Smell, Sound, Sight. Anything you can assign to that bit of information will help you remember it. It'll take practice, but eventually you'll be able to move faster through the information you hear and you'll store it quickly without writing anything down."

"I mean, I remember that now. But I doubt I'll be able to remember it tomorrow."

Damian shrugged, "Guess we'll see... In the meantime, their is something on your bed."

Jon glanced over to the box with a note from his Father. "Oh yea, that's probably my phone!"

He opened the note glancing at the message:

_Call your Mother when you get this set up._

_\- Superman_

Jon smiled and started tearing open the packaging on his phone.

* * *

The next morning their was a knock at their dorm entrance. Damian told Jon to hide the weapons that he was showing him how to properly store and clean.

"We didn't lose track of time did we?" Jon asked, thinking maybe they were running late and missed class or closed the lid quickly on the suite case where the weapons were kept.

Damian checked his watch. "No, their is still a few hours before class."

Damian opened the door to see Mrs. Atherton standing outside it. "This dorm wing has been selected to..."

Her eyes darted around the mess left by Goliath, "Oh dear lord, what happened in here."

Jon, though he wasn't standing right at the door bit his lip. Oh yeah... They had forgotten about the mess. Mr. Wayne was supposed to send someone to clean everything up soon, but it hadn't happened yet.

"Father refused to buy me a yacht for the summer. Let's just say I was more than a little upset," Damian spoke in a monotone voice as if he couldn't care less. Like most of the other rich kids here. "So now he can pay to fix this dorm. He's sending someone out don't worry about it. Now, what are you here for?"

"Oh... Uh, this dorm win has been selected to go to the LexCorp Museum of Arts and Science today. We'll be boarding the the same time as your first periods and both of your history teachers will be requiring a report on something within' the museum. Due tomorrow."

She handed Damian two pieces of paper that listed the requirements for said report and exactly what the teacher expected form this project. Jon's had his name at the top of his paper and his requirements were slightly less than Damain's due to his being in another grade.

"We'll be ready, thank you," Damian closed the door as Mrs. Atherton made her way to the next room to notify them.

Damian and Jon continued training until it was time to head down.

Jon had been on field trips before so he was excited. Though he found it a little weird that they were only notified of a field trip that morning rather than in advanced. Then again perhaps they missed the memo. They were new after all and had not transferred here at the beginning of the school year. When they got outside their wasn't a bus waiting for them. Their was limo. A rather large stretch limo.

No one but Jon seemed surprised about this. He had never ridden in a limo before. Happily he picked a window seat and once even tried to open the sun roof and look out, but Damian had pulled him back down into the seat looking thoroughly embarrassed. So Jon decided to sit quietly the rest of the ride was some of the other kid's struck up conversations with Jon about what their parents did. They always seem so impressed when he would state that he was billionaire Bruce Wayne's son.

It was an hour or so before they pulled up to the LexCorp Museum of Arts and Mrs. Atherton did a quiet roll call by counting heads before they went inside.

"We've been invited by Lex Luthor himself," Mrs. Atherton informed the receptionist and immediately a tour guide was assigned to them to walk them through the arts and talk endlessly about the sculptures there.

About an hour into the tour they ran into the person Damain was hoping they wouldn't see.

"Are we enjoying the exhibit?" asked a voice from behind them.

They turned to find Lex Luthor himself. In his expensive suit and tie. The arrogant smile. Damian instantly felt uneasy. Why was he here? The LexCorp headquarters as well as Luthor's personal manor were hundreds of miles away. He knew Luthor and Superman were for a lack of better term, enemies. But Jon didn't seem to know this and gazed with the rest of the children in interest. It was a coincidence that he was here. Their was no way he could know who Jon was. As far as Luthor was concerned, they were just a group of kids (albeit rich kids) on a field trip. No need to worry.

"If I'm not mistaken, I believe I heard someone special was on this trip," Luthor walked through the crowd of students, towards them.

He can't know who Jon is... Their was no way... Though the closer Luthor got the more he started doubting it. Damian didn't let his face show any concern. Then Luthor was right in front of them and he held his hand out... to Damian.

"You're the young Damian Wayne, am I correct?"

Damian had been standing with his hands in his pocket. It was a bit of a power move to let the person extending a hand shake hold it for a moment before accepting. So he let him wait just long enough for it to reach the apex of where it would start to be rude that he hadn't accepted and only then did he extend his hand out taking it. He could tell Luthor had noticed.

"Mr. Lex Luthor it's a pleasure," he was slightly relieved. He wasn't paying a single bit of attention to Jon and that's exactly what Damian wanted.

"You know I have been trying to get a hold of your Father for some time _little_ Wayne. Maybe you could introduce me."

Power play on his part, bringing up his age by calling him _little_. Basically a non-verbal way of telling Damian to stay in his place.

"He's a busy man Luthor. Being the richest man in the world doesn't leave you a lot of free time," he pointed out grinning.

Power play on Damian's part, reminding Luthor that he was only the second richest man in the world. It was a chess game, with words as their pieces. Each countering eachother's moves subtlety, verbally.

Suddenly Luthor laughed and threw and arm around Damian's shoulder's forcing him to the front of the group, "As you say _boy_ ," he motioned for someone standing not too far away to come over. This was someone with a camera and appeared to be a reporter. "Let's get a shot for the papers. Lex Luthor gives billionaire Bruce Wayne's son a personal tour of his facilities."

Lex moved his hand from Damian's shoulder to the back of his neck forcing Damian to face the camera. It wouldn't have been obvious to anyone not actually looking for it, but but their was a lot of force in the hand on his neck, pinning Damian to Luthor's side. Damian glared up at him, and Lex was grinning back. He knew what Luthor was doing. The final subtle caveat. A non-verbal warning getting across the sentiment of, _don't piss me off again_.

Check.

"C'mon smile, for the photo," he shook Damian a little roughly. In an effort to get a smile out of him. But he wouldn't smile, that would have meant losing, so he settled for looking away during the picture.

When his little photo-op was done Luthor ruffled his hair, "You have your Father give me a call sometime. We'll all do lunch."

Then he turned addressing the entire class. "Come, to the labs everyone. I'll show you some of the products not yet available this year."

The group began to follow him and Damian reached up to the back of his neck. It was sore and painful from where Luthor had been holding him. By then Jon had made his way to Damian's side.

"What was that about?"

"Don't worry about it," Damian answered. He was planning to talk to Jon about Luthor later but telling him now was going to lead to unnecessary worry on Jon's part. At least it seemed he didn't have any clue who Jon was, but he still couldn't believe Superman hadn't told Jon about his enemies. When Batman had officially okayed his being Robin one of the first things Batman did was go through the profiles of his most common enemies.

"Are you sure..."

"I'll tell you later, just keep quiet until were back to school."

"O... kay..."

They followed along with the group into an elevator that decedent several flights. Luthor was addressing the whole class with embellished advertising of the sort of things in the future for LexCorp. When the doors opened a large lab met their eyes. All of it the best of the best. Much of the technology appeared to be on par with what could be found in the batcave. Luthor began discussing different inventions. He pointed out how they were working on cures for certain diseases. Their were some alien looking creatures in jars. Apparently dead. Some weapons that unless Damain was mistaken, they looked Atlantian. He was wondering if this equipment had been given or stolen, likely the latter. Then one of the girls pointed at a container.

"Ew, what is that?"

"That little one," Lex said walking over to it. "That is a recovered piece from Doomsday, the only creature who has ever been known to kill Superman."

Jon's face fell.

 _Shit_ , Damian reached for Jon's hand. "Jon hey look at this thing, it's pretty cool—."

He knew the distraction wasn't going to work even before he had reached out to him. Jon just pulled away all his attention on the conversation at hand.

"Kill Superman? But Superman's alive," one of the kids pointed out.

"That is indeed true, but this was before most of you kids were born. Their was a period of time where we lost Superman for a few months. It was only through LexCorp tech that he was restored to the full health you know him to be today."

Damian couldn't help but roll his eyes. Lex was spinning his own narrative on that story. That happened even before _he_ was born but he had read about that time. When the world thought Superman to be gone. Jon looked like his whole world had crumbled.

"Hey," Damian whispered as low as he could. "He's fine now. Get that look off your face before someone sees."

"He kicked Doomsdays butt! And then rose from the dead to fight another day. That what makes Superman so cool," One of the kids commented.

" _Yes yes, we all love Superman_ ," Lex said in a tone that clearly expressed that he didn't. "I know... I'll show you kids something really awesome."

He walked over to a computer typing away and a small container rose up a pipe from a hole in the dashboard of the counsel. "This... This is one of the rarest substances in the world. The only known non-living substance that can take down Superman."

Before the container opened Jon and Damian caught each other's gaze. The green light started shining through, and...

"Kryptonite! Isn't it gorgeous. This is one of the biggest chunks of it ever found as well, it's—"

The worried commotion got Lex's attention. Everyone had turned when he collapsed. Damian was on his knees holding Jon who was wincing in pain, and shaking. Damian and Luthor's eyes met. This was bad. Collapsing now, at right this moment... Luthor was going to know Jon was kryptonian. One search through the school records and he was going to know who his Father was. It wouldn't be too much of a reach after that point to realize that Clark Kent, Jon Kent's father, was Superman. The cover was blown. Jon's family's safety would be at risk. Luthor was certainly not above selling that sort of information to the highest bidder. Just how much would some people pay to learn who Superman really is?

Luthor smiled.

Damian felt his heart sink further.

Checkmate.

It was over.

Or was it?

"He has epilepsy you idiot," Damian snapped. "Bright colors like that makes him sick. Put it away!"

Luthor's smiled softened but did not disappear. He fiddled with his watch. "Is that so? We have an excellent infirmary here."

Luthor knelt down, "I will take him." One of the lab assistants had already put the kryptonite away but Jon was still shaking in pain. Superman would recover almost instantly once kryptonite was out of range. Was this one of the differences between him and Superman, since he was only half blooded.

"It's okay, he'll be fine in a minute," Damain tried to explain.

"Due to lawsuits and such it would be best if he be seen by our physicians."

Damian couldn't argue. When an adult needs to take someone for medical attention, a child demanding that they stay would not be taken seriously. He couldn't physically prevent anyone from taking him without it being blatantly obvious that he wasn't a regular kid. No one wants to read the headline: Billionaire Bruce Wayne's son knock's out Lex Luthor for trying to take a sick child to get medical care. He was completely stuck, and he only had one choice. Before he made that choice he reached into Jon's jacket grabbing his new phone. He discretely hid it up his sleeve.

Luthor took Jon in his arms and stood up looming over Damian who hadn't yet removed himself from the floor. But from this angle, he saw it. A green glow from below Luthor's watch. He had kryptonite in his watch. He jumped up, "Where are you going to take him?"

"I already said to the infirmary."

"I mean where in the building is that."

"It doesn't matter, non-sick children aren't allowed there anyway. But I'll give his parents a call and let them know where he'll be," he turned to face everyone. "Please continue your tour, the lobby has icecream when you children are done exploring. Good day to you all."

Luthor turned, and in a soft weakened voice he heard "Dami...n."

He preferred to do things by himself. He preferred working alone in various matters. But this... This was not one of them. Jon needed help and even though the very idea of calling to ask for assistance upset him to no end, he knew their was no choice.

"Mrs. Atherton I have to use the restroom," he explained. Without waiting for permission. He rushed to the nearest stairway exist and hurried up the stairs. But he didn't head to the restroom. He followed the exit signs until he made it to the rooftop and took out Jon's phone. He had just set it up yesterday so their were only a few numbers back in it. He scrolled to the DAD contact and hit call.

It rang a few times, and then a few more. He was getting impatient now.

"Sorry Jon, I'm going to have to call you back. Their's a story we're covering and—"

"Mr. Kent!" Damian interrupted.

"Damian?"

"Sir I need... I" He stopped. He almost felt like he was going to choke on the words. Wow, this was harder than he thought. He could feel the prideful side of him screaming that he could do this himself and didn't need anybody. "I need... your help..."

"Why didn't you call your Father?"

"I don't need that kind of help."

"Yeah?" he frowned slightly. "What kind of help do you need?"

"The kind of help Jon Kent's Father can give me," Damian said sternly.

And it finally hit Clark that this was something serious.

"Where are you?" his own tone dropped to one a bit more urgent.

"LexCorp Museum of Arts and Science. Get here now."

*click*

Clark looked up from his phone to see his wife's worried face. "Clark what is it?"

"I have to take an early lunch, let the boss know."

"Clark?"

He didn't wait. The moment he got to a place where he was sure he could take off without being noticed he was up into the air.

* * *

It hurt. It hurt so much more than he thought it would. He couldn't move and he kept trying. He could move his fingers a little, but when he tried to move his arms it was like they were weighed down.

"Please continue your tour, the lobby has icecream when you children are done exploring. Good day to you all," Luthor said.

Damian was just going to let him leave. Why didn't he just have them put the kryptonite away. He would be fine if it just went away.

He wanted to explain this to Damian but he could barely get out his name. "Dami...n."

He was carried to the elevator and he heard the doors close, his vision was blurring and he felt dizzy and sick.

"So, you're a kryptonian?"

He couldn't answer, not even if he wanted to, and he didn't want to.

"Did you come he from space? Or were you home grown, that's the question," Luthor grinned.

"I... I'm not..."

"Alright deny it all you want. I'll know better after I examine your blood."

"I don't have the kind of restraints that can hold a Superman anymore. So you will have to deal with the kryptonite a little bit longer so I can make sure you don't just up and escape on me."

The elevator doors opened and he walked into a room Jon couldn't really make out. Their were so many lights and it all hurt his head. The pain was getting worse but he couldn't even scream. It was like his vocal cords were working less and less.

Luthor set him on a table.

"Oh don't look like that," he said. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to take a blood sample or two and then I'll let you go back to your class."

He started speaking more to himself than to Jon. "I'm going to need a kryptonite needle, it's the only thing that would be able to pierce the skin."

He went over to one of his computers and brought up a container just as he had done before in the lab. Jon felt an extra search of pain.

"Sorry," Luthor said but he didn't sound it at all. "The backup krypotnite I had is attached to my watch and it's my emergency stash so it always stays with me. Since I have to leave for a short time, I'm just going to have you hold this peice in your mouth until I get back. That way I don't risk it accidentally getting knocked onto the ground."

He force Jon to open his mouth and placed the rock on his tongue. A surge of pain instantly engulfed him. It was almost blinding. The next thing he knew something metal was placed over his mouth and he heard a motorized click as it closed around the lower half of his face. "Just so you don't spit it out," Luthor explained and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Five more minutes and you'll be eating ice cream with your friends."

He heard footsteps moving away and Luthor grumbling. _Now where did I put my kryptonite needle_?

The sound of a sliding door opening, and then closing was heard. And then he was alone. Alone and in more pain than he had ever been in in his life. Where was Damian? Did he really just leave him here. Was Luthor really going to just let him go after getting some of his blood? Could he trust him? These very thoughts were difficult to think when 95% of his brain was going haywire from the pain. He wanted to take this thing off his face. He could taste blood in his mouth. He could feel it on his chin.

He wanted to just black out already. It would be easier than feeling this.

* * *

Damian's hair whooshed as Superman showed up in front of him.

"Where's Jon?" he asked.

"Luthor took him. He brought out some kryptonite to show our class and Jon was affected by it. I tried lying and saying he had epilepsy, but Luther didn't buy it. He claimed he was taking Jon to the infirmary, but I doubt that's actually where he took him. He should still be in the building though."

"I'll find him. "Go to that red building. I'll bring Jon there."

With that he used his x-ray vision to scan the building. It took him seconds to find Jon and he felt a rage build up in his chest. Even though the room Jon was in had no windows he broke through the nearest window to that room flew to the elevator shaft and forced open the sliding doors to the room where Jon was.

His son was lying on the metal slab in the middle of the room. He looked weakened and sick which Superman wasn't used to seeing. Jon had always been an exceptionally healthy child. Likely due in part to his kryptonite genes. He entered the room immediately without thinking and a second later realized that probably hadn't been a smart move. Had the room been filled with kryptonite he wouldn't have been able to retrieve Jon. Quickly he pulled his child into his arms and was out of the building in seconds. Damain had just finished scaling the building when Superman appeared on top of it. Holding Jon to him. He wasted no time breaking the contraption that Luthor had put on his child's face, and to his horror. The inside of the mask was covered in blood. Blood poured from Jon's mouth and he cough out a rock. Superman instantly nearly fell forward and caught himself with his arm. Using all his strength to hold his son up with the other. The glowing green rock was covered in blood. That was in Jon's mouth.

Damian instantly rushed forward picking up the stone he reached for his utility belt and realizing a second later he didn't have it. Which also meant he had no container that could block the radiation affects of that stone. "I don't have anything that can block this out," Damian pointed out to Superman.

"Just get... rid of it!"

Realizing this wasn't the smartest move, but he didn't have a better one. He chucked it as far as he could throw it away from them.

As soon as it got far enough away Superman instantly feel better. Jon however was still breathing hard and shaking slightly. Superman couldn't tell how present his son was mentally, but he pulled him close so he could feel him there. One arm wrapped around his torso the other pressed lightly against his head.

Damain stood a ways back contenting himself to stare out at the horizon to give Jon a moment. Every time his face twitched from the pain a few tears fell from his eyes. His breath was slowly getting back to a normal pace. Superman could see into his son's body. The injury in his mouth from the kryptonite was healing, but it was extremely slow. Well, slow compared to how fast he healed, but still exceptionally fast compared to normal humans recovery rate.

"Can you talk yet Jon?" Superman asked him softly.

Jon shook his head but that wasn't exactly true. He felt he probably could have talked now. But he was on the edge of wanting to cry and he didn't want to start crying in front of Damian, he was too embarrassed. Almost as if Damian had read his mind he turned his back to them and sat on the edge of the roof staring off in the complete opposite direction. Jon blinked a few times letting his tears fall freely in the brief moment he had where Damian' wasn't looking and then he started trying to wipe his face off on his sleeve.

"Can you talk now?"

"Yeah. Thanks for coming Dad."

"Are you still in pain son?"

"I'm just a little sore now."

"Superman."

Damain had approached him. "I need to get back. It'll be too suspicious if I disappear too."

"I agree, I'm going to take Jon home for now. If Luthor tries anything with you, just call for me. I'll keep an ear out."

"Sure," Damian turned to Jon and handed his phone back to him, "Feel better." With that Damian hurried to the ledge jumping off the side of the building.

He felt like such a baby. He bet Damian never had to be saved like this by his Dad, and he bet Damian never cried after being rescued. He felt so tired, but he wanted to stay awake.

Clark took off into the air at a far slower pace then he would normally travel.

"I should probably explain—"

"Damain told me about kryptonite. I just hadn't ever seen it until today."

"I hoped you would never have to see it," Clark looked down at his son. His front was still stained with blood, but his injuries were completely gone. Jon was struggling to keep his eyes open, and he couldn't blame him. From the kryptonite and the amount of energy it takes to recover from injuries. He was certainly overdue for a rest. "Sleep. You need it."

"Okay," he didn't argue and snuggled his head against his shoulder. "Dad."

"Yes son?"

"Don't tell Mom."

He smiled. "I won't."


	3. Prep for Party Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce changes the paper trail to remove Jon from having any connection with his parents, thus securing Superman's secret identity. Which is all well and good, but it'll take more convincing to get Lex off the boy's trail. So the Batfam shows up for Lex's party prepared to stage a scene in which they can prove that Jon isn't kryptonian.

"Jon didn't want me to tell you," Clark explained that night after re-accounting the whole story for her. Jon may not have wanted her to know, but she was his mother, and just like Clark, she needed to know what was going on with their son. Lois sighed taking a sip of her drink. She looked genuinely concerned.

"If Luthor knows..." her words failed her. They both knew what this could mean.

"I called Bruce as soon as I got home," Clark explained. "He said he would handle it by altering some of Jon's files."

"Jon has a file?"

"According to Bruce, everyone has a file," Clark laughed weakly. He knew this was serious but the laugh was more out of nerves than anything.

"He's going to be able to find out we're his parents, and it won't be too long after that he'll realize your Superman. This is a disaster..."

"It'll be fine. I'll... talk to Luthor."

"Right because the relationship between the two of you is sure to sway him to not look into our son's history anymore..."

"You're right..." Clark sighed, for such a large man it was strange to see him look so deflated.

"Maybe we should... go into hiding?" Lois suggested.

"I don't think the situation is quite that serious," Clark looked anxious about the idea.

The doorbell rang and Lois jumped at the sound. Using his supervision he glanced through the house at whoever was out there. He was both relieved and nervous to see it was Bruce Wayne. After assuring his wife who was at the door he got up and opened it.

"Good evening, may we come in?" Bruce asked. Alfred was a little further behind him.

"Of course," Lois answered. "I'll get some coffee ready."

"A half cup will be fine Lois, I don't intend to stay too long."

"What are you doing here?" Clark asked.

"I've solved your problem," Bruce explained heading into the kitchen. He sat down at the table and Alfred stood near the entrance. Lois nervously turned on the coffee maker before she turning back to him.

"Solved our problem how?"

"I dug into research on everything I could find on your son. Which is very similar to the sort of research Lex is likely to do. The good news is, because of obvious reasons, you've both kept a low profile on the digital world. The only things linking you to your son has been a birth certificate and a few school records and some files related to tax purposes are about the only other things that ties you to him. You also don't speak of him to anyone but family so no one at your jobs know you have a son. It made this change easy."

"What change?"

"I've altered those past records and replaced them with new ones," Bruce explained.

"What does that mean?" Clark inquired.

"As far as the paperwork goes, Jon Kent is an orphan that I adopted a few years ago. I have a record of taking in wards, which no one would question knowing my history and I don't typically make too public the people under my care until they're a bit older, so the fact that he hasn't been in the spotlight will go relatively unnoticed. I'm adding in the story that his health hasn't been the best. I put a medical condition in Jon's files dating back to before he was adopted that would reasonably explain why he collapsed at the sight of _it_. Health concerns serve as another reason for the public to not know of him."

"Wait... you're talking about adopting our child," Lois snapped looking upset.

"Lois, I promise you. All decisions about your son will be left to you and Clark."

"Wha... This is insane you're not adopting our child!"

"I already have, the records have been altered. Apologies, but their was no time to ask permission. I had to take down the LexCorp servers shortly after Jon escaped, alter the documents, and bring the servers back online. I tracked his investigation, he's already seen the information that Jon is in my care, and their are plenty of press photos showing Bruce Wayne and Superman side by side. He shouldn't link you to Jon, and Kent is a common enough last name that no one should make the connections based on that alone."

"Bruce!" Lois snapped as the coffee pot screamed that it was done but she didn't bother to grab it.

"Lois, it's this way on paper only. It's the best way to get Luthor off this trail."

"Clark!" Lois turned to her husband as Alfred walked over seeing to the coffee.

"Lois is right, you should have consulted us first."

"Their wasn't time," Bruce reiterated. He hated repeating himself. "Your life won't be much different even with this change."

"If you would rather everyone find out about Jon and Clark, I can revert the files, and Luthor will catch on eventually."

Crossing her arms Lois glared at Bruce as Alfred passed around the finished cups of coffee. "So what, you expect Jon to just come live with you?"

"Not at all, he still lives in the dorms at their school, and he can visit Damian occasionally during summers to solidify the story, but his primary home will be here with you. The only change you have to make is telling strangers you don't have a child. During times when he is with you out in public, give him a different name and just say he's a nephew from Lois' side of the family."

"I'm not happy about this," Lois snapped.

"It's not ideal, but it's the safest plan," Bruce explained. He turned to Clark at that point. "How is he?"

"He's been asleep since I got him home," Clark explained. "I keep checking on him, physically he seems to be okay now."

"Now more than ever it's important that he not use his powers. Not even by accident."

"Of course," Lois said. "And he's not to go anywhere near Luthor or a LexCrop company again."

"Obviously," Clark responded taking a sip from the coffee.

"Actually," Bruce sighed. "He needs to go back there one last time."

"WHAT?!" Lois snapped.

"Lex is obsessive. I've put as many obstacles in his way as possible. But, if he prys on this too much he will find it out eventually. I want him to use his kcryptonite on Jon one last time and—"

"Not a chance!" Clark interrupted.

"Just listen, in—"

"No Bruce. You didn't see my son when I got him out of there. You didn't see how much pain he was in. For all I know his being only half kryptonian could make the effects of kryptonite on him worse than it is on me. If you saw your son in that sort of state would you send them back to the place and the person who caused it?"

Bruce exhaled. "All these years together and you still don't trust me. As I was trying to say, we're going to use this."

He placed a chunk of kryptonite on the table. Superman flinched for only a second but realized it wasn't hurting him.

"It's as close of a visual replica that I can make to kryptonite. But it has none of the affects and is completely harmless to you. I'll be replacing his kryptonite with the fake stuff, and re-replacing it with the real thing afterwards."

"Why would you switch it back out for the real thing?" Lois asked. "You should just take it all. He's only going to use that on Clark later."

"True, but as I said, he's obsessive. When he tries to use it on Jon and it doesn't work, he's going to test the kryptonite to see if it was indeed switched. It has to function as he expects the second time or he will know someone switched it."

"I don't know," Lois frowned. "I don't like it, it's too risky."

"It's fine. I've done similar bait and switch tactics with my team," Bruce assured her. Clearly referencing the past Robins.

"No offense Bruce, but you might be willing to risk the safety or your sons on crazy missions like this, but I'm not," Lois sighed. "Jon is not a fighter, he's not a sidekick, he's my child."

"He's your half alien hybrid child with the potential for powers that could possibly end the world. And if anyone discovers this they would not hesitate to acquire that kind of power by any means necessary. One of your husband's biggest enemies is now closer than anyone to discovering this secret, and rather than fix the issue, you would rather we let this go and see what happens?" Bruce asked in a serious tone.

"Uh..." she frowned. Defeated. Clearly she couldn't come up with a reason to not do this. "If we're going to do this, I need your promise he won't be hurt."

"I promise, not a hair on his head," Bruce frowned. "You have my word Lois."

"Clark, what do you think?"

"I think we should at least try to resolve this," Clark explained. "Besides I'll be there. After this, Jon can go back to school without worrying."

Lois stared down into her drink. "Okay..."

"Mom can I have some—" Jon had come into the room rubbing his eyes dragging a blanket behind him. He was small, though still taller than Damain. He looked so childish standing there in his pajamas. His eyes scanned the room and he was about to ask why this man was in their kitchen when he caught sight of the stone and his eyes widened. He took a step back looking scared.

"It's okay son," Superman assured him. Getting to his feet quickly he led Jon into the kitchen and Bruce quickly put the fake kryptonite away. Not because it would hurt him, but because he didn't want Jon to be scared by it, especially considering what he had recently been through.

"We should tell Jon," Bruce was going to leave that conversation to his parents though.

"Jon sweetie, come sit here," Lois pulled out her own chair and moved to another one. He climbed up looking sheepish.

"Am I in trouble?" he asked softly.

"No honey," Lois assured him. "We just have something to tell you. Um... Because of what happened. We..."

"You told Mom!" Jon rounded on his father looking slightly betrayed.

"Now," Clark frowned. "Just listen son."

Biting his lip in annoyance he leaned back in his chair.

"Mr. Wayne here has altered some documents. This is all to keep Mr. Luthor from realizing your half kryptonian. Because if he looked into it too much he will realize that your Father is Superman. It's going to show that you're Mr. Wayne's ward and that you live with him. You won't be able to mention us at at school, and if anyone asks about parents you'll have to say that your guardian is Mr. Wayne. It's..."

Jon's expression had slowly been falling as she spoke and he interrupted her, but as softly and politely as he could. "Wait... you and Dad don't want me anymore?" he asked.

Hearing Jon say that caused an echo of regret to strike his parents, and they realized Lois hadn't exactly started this conversation off right.

"Of course we do Jon!" Lois assured him.

"It's not like that," Clark explained. "This is just a precaution. It's to keep you safe."

"Do I still call you Mom and Dad?"

"Of course," Lois and Clark assured him. But Bruce chimed in at that point.

"Not in public. If someone asks who your parent or guardian is, you tell them it's me," Bruce explained. He got to his feet. "I'll leave the rest of the explanation to you two. Goodnight."

Bruce and Alfred left the house shortly after and Lois and Clark were finally able to explain it to Jon by saying being Bruce wayne's ward was like his hero life, and being their son was like his secret identity that he couldn't tell anyone about. And this explanation seemed to satisfy him.

* * *

Two days had passed since he spoke with Kents. Last he heard Jon was doing well and would be returning to school tomorrow. So he decided he would pay Luthor a visit in the morning to figure out a good time for his plan to take place. But on his way there his computer picked up Goliath in the town. Upon closer inspection he found Damian, not at school where he was supposed to be. He landed his plane a ways out and tracked Damian down.

"Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Relax, I'm not fighting crime," Damain explained remembering full well that he had been forbidden from doing so. He had a flashlight in his hand and he was looking around.

"What are you doing?" Batman inquired.

Damain snapped back, "I could ask you the same thing."

"Calm down Damian you're not in trouble, it's just a question," Batman explained calmly. Damian was in his assassin uniform which Batman didn't like seeing. But it made sense since because he had taken away the robin uniform and he couldn't exactly be out here as Damian Wayne.

Frowning Damian gave in, "I dropped something."

"The kryptonite?"

His frown deepened, "I knew you were spying on me."

"I'm not," Batman answered in a matter of fact tone. "This may come as a surprise to you, but Superman and I do talk now and then, and occasionally the topics of our sons come up."

"Since you know the whole story, I'll leave you to find it Father. I trust you at least have the proper equipment," Damian said taking a stab at the fact that Batman had refused to let him have his equipment. He turned off his flashlight and started heading back to the nearby woods where Goliath was waiting for him. Batman had turned his flashlight on the same time Damian had turned his off and aimed it at his son. He intended to say something. But wasn't sure what. He was distracted however when he noticed a dark bruise on the back of Damian's neck.

"What happened to your neck?" he asked.

A moments pause. "Slept wrong."

He kept walking away, Batman knew Damian was lying, but finding the missing kryptonite was more important at the moment. He pulled out the detector he had created to find said substance.

"Batman."

He looked back up in Damian's direction. He had stopped walking just before the forest edge. "Their are some things that may interest you in the basement of the LexCorp Museum. You might want to pay Luthor a visit and ask him for the tour."

Then Damian disappeared from sight. A tour huh. He supposed Damian had seen some things of interest. Alright then. That's another thing he would need to do.

Batman, using his equipment, quickly found the piece. He put it securely away in his belt before he changed and headed to one of the hotels he owned in the area. Their weren't too many cities in the world where he didn't own a hotel. He was able to walk in and the staff instantly recognized him.

"Mr. Wayne," one of the staff rushed over. "We have a room on permanent reserve for you, but we never thought you would actually use it way out here."

"My son happens to go to school nearby," Wayne explained. "I'm going upstairs. please have dinner brought to my room as well as today's paper."

"Yes Sir!"

He got a key card from the desk and headed up to the room. Perhaps he would get a massage. Lord knows he was stressed enough to need one. Between trying to keep Jon safe, dealing with a son like Damian, his businesses, his justice league duties and trying to manage the crimes going on in Gotham. He was running thin.

When he heard the knock at the door he headed over opening it. A female staff member was smiling wide. She pushed the food trolly into the room. "Here you are Mr. Wayne. A steak dinner that I hope is to your liking as well as today's newspaper."

"Thank you," he took the paper opening it up to the business section.

"So..." she took off her jacket revealing a skimpy dress. "Is their anything else I can do for you Mr. Wayne?"

"No, that will be all."

She started pouting. "Are you sure."

"I'm sure, thank you," he didn't look up from his paper but he could see her in the reflection of the window and he didn't have time for it. Plenty of women would try to hit on him thinking of him as an easy means to instant cash. Bruce had expected better of his own staff though. He attention when back to planning and making sure that what was going to happen would go off without a hitch. Much of the plan was going to rely on some of the things he learned tomorrow when he would speak with Luthor. She left disappointed and he took out his laptop and pulled his food close. When he finished that page he flipped to the next one and had to pause.

Damian's face was in the paper. But not just Damian's. Luthor's as well. He could see students in the background, this was clearly from their trip to the museum. It didn't take him long to read the body language in the picture, to see how Luthor was holding Damian in a subjugating manor. It explained where the bruise came from and he was instantly angry about this. It was one thing to get an injury as Robin in the field where injuries were expected. But that had happened out of uniform as Damian, which was far more concerning. Damian had more limitations placed on him than Robin, he couldn't just attack the person hurting him as Damian, not without raising suspicions and he certainly couldn't do something about it on a school trip. Though knowing his son, he's was sure he would have loved to.

The article itself did not improve his mood. It was written with a tone like the Waynes and the Luthors were good friends and often worked on projects together and were familiar enough that his child would visit all the time. In reality they had only rarely spoken and the last time they had it was at a party and nothing but pleasantries had been exchanged.

Now he had another reason to visit Luthor.

* * *

How could he just disappear? His video surveillance had been corrupted and his best staff had worked on it the last few days and they couldn't retrieve a decent shot. The broken window and the dent from the elevator doors having been forced open was their only proof someone had broken in. It had to be Superman their was no question. But he had no proof! That boy was related to Superman somehow! He had to be. It couldn't have been coincidence that a child that reacts to kryptonite appears before him and Superman just happens to show up to retrieve him. Before Lex on the table was everything dug up on the boy. A ward of Bruce Wayne's. Was he involved in cloning? He himself had tried more than once to clone Superman but it never got off the ground.

But was the boy a clone? Or something else? Was Bruce Wayne just collecting these children and giving them kryptonian genes? Most of his wards had already grown up and left his home, but all of them had a history of impressive skils in martial arts. Perhaps he only finalized and perfected it with this latest boy. The start of his own Superman army that would obey his every command. How could Luthor compete with that?

Lex shuffled through the papers until he came across Damian's picture. Then their was this little shit. Did he have Superman-like powers too? Most likely no or he also would have reacted to the kryptonite as well. This brat appeared to be Bruce's only biological child though, and he could see it in his face. Which begged the question, who was his Mother? That arrogant playboy had countless women, so who did he decide was oh so special enough to bare him an actual child? Or was it a one night mistake that brought the spoiled shit here.

"Mr. Luthor Sir?"

"What?!" he snapped at the worker not looking up from his files.

"Sorry to bother you, but... Bruce Wayne just arrived."

"What?" he gasped. "Why? I didn't... Never mind."

He hurried shuffling all the papers he had on his desk.

A picture of Grayson on his motorcycle was slid under the other pages. A picture of Jason in a karate match (admittedly this photo was a few years old), he threw that it on top. Tim was in a picture wearing a suit seemingly heading somewhere important, that pic had slipped off onto the floor. As for Damian's photo he grabbed at it so forcefully that he crushed the picture in his hands. Collecting the entire pile he shuffled it into the worker's arms. "Get this out of here! Make sure he doesn't see it!"

With that he hurried upstairs straightening his tie as he got to the landing.

Bruce was speaking with one of his receptionists, clearly flirting.

"Bruce Wayne," Lex said cheerfully. "To what do I owe the honor?"

"My son said you wanted to meet with me, and that I should go on one of your tours," he explained as they shook hands.

"This is a bit unexpected. I got the impression he hadn't been paying attention to me. It's nice to see your boy listens to his elders."

Bruce smiled. "He listens when he wants to. How about we go have lunch and then we'll take a look around this fascinating place."

"Of course," Lex said and he snapped his fingers calling over one of his workers and he proceeds to give her instructions to call a nearby high scale restaurant and get them a reservation immediately.

"Come along Mr. Wayne, I can't wait for you to try this place, it's one of my favorite."

As he was heading to the door Bruce noticed something had fallen off Mr. Luthor's shoe. He reached down picking it up, he turned it over. Instantly his eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing a picture of Tim Drake in his college uniform. It was from an odd angle of someone who was obviously not wanting to be seen taking a photo.

Lex had been talking the whole time and he held the door open for Bruce and paused when he noticed Bruce was looking at something. He couldn't tell what it was from the angle he was standing. "Bruce?"

Bruce smiled.

"It's been awhile..." he admitted thoughtfully. "I really should give that kid a call. We haven't spoken in a month or two."

A little confused Luthor frowned, "Wha..."

"So, why do you have a picture of one of my sons?" he asked turning the photo around so Lex could see what it was.

Their was a panicked pause as he clearly tried to come up with a reasonable explanation. "One of your kids? I... I thought Damian was your only son."

"Biologically yes, but when you take in children and give them a home, it's hard after awhile to not think of them as your own," Bruce admitted somewhat fondly. "So I'll ask you again. Why do you have a picture of one of my children?"

He could confront Luthor about this without raising any suspicion. What parent wouldn't be concerned about finding out a business colleague had been holding onto a picture of their child?

"I didn't know he was your child Mr. Wayne I assure you," Lex smiled nervously. "He's... actually a potential employee. I was looking through the new hire resumes before you arrived and many of them like to include photos. Now that I know he's one of yours I will definitely give him more consideration."

This was a lie. Firstly, all his wards knew Lex was an underhanded fucker and while he wouldn't pretend that his sons told him everything about their lives, he was absolutely sure that Tim would not have sought an internship with LexCorp. And on the off chance Bruce was wrong and Tim actually had, he would have included a more professional photo and not this laughable shot that looked like someone had taken it while hiding in some bushes. Their was no sense in calling Lex out on this though, he had an agenda after all.

"I see," Bruce said softly and he tucked the photo away in his jacket. "I hope you don't mind my keeping this, Tim never liked his picture taken much so I don't have many photos."

As he walked by Lex holding the door open Bruce clapped his shoulder in a friendly manner. "I'm looking forward to this restaurant, it sounds impressive."

* * *

"About time your lazy ass showed up," Damian frowned when Jon had walked into their dorm that afternoon.

"Sorry, my parents decided to take me fishing and—" he paused noticing that their room had been repaired. "Wow, the room looks... What?"

Damian was looking very upset. "You were fine the day after, you should have been back here."

"Mom said I should do something fun to take my mind off what happened..."

Damian walked over to him. "I realize you're 9 but c'mon. What are you going to do if you get hurt during our training sessions? Take a weeks vacation?"

"I... Sorry?"

"I don't want apologies, I want action. Come with me," he demanded.

"Where are we going?"

"Pennyworth made a place in the nearby mountain for us to keep Goliath," he pointed out. "So let's check out where we're going to be training you."

Jon hurried after Damian and followed him for a good thirty minutes and he almost about to ask the classic, Are we there yet? When Damain announced they were here. Though here turned out to be a cliff side, a wall of rock.

"Ugh..."

Damian walked up to the cliff side. Their was a beep sound and the cliff wall glided open. He was about to ask how it did that, but when it slid open Alfred was standing inside it with a clipboard.

"Ah Master Damian."

"I thought you left already," Damian looked unimpressed by the interior.

But Jon was very impressed. It was about the size of their auditorium just without the stands and basketball courts.

"I wanted to make sure Goliath would have enough room to exercise even if you couldn't take him out," Alfred explained.

"It's good enough," Damian walked over and to his surprise he saw a computer set up. Similar to what was in the batcave but on a slightly smaller scale.

"I figured you might need to keep track of Goliath's dietary and health habits. This computer should offer _everything you need_ ," Alfred said the last three words slowly. Firmly. Damian frowned. Did he know what they were trying to do?

"I'm not—"

Alfred interrupted quickly. "I have also lined the the edges of this cave with lead for... privacy."

 _He knew_. Damian looked up at him. Expecting to be reprimanded, told off. Or warned with threats of telling his Father. But...

"Is their anything else you require Master Damian?"

An unspoken understanding passed between them. He wasn't going to tell Batman.

"No Pennyworth, thank you for everything."

Jon had been running around the place happily. "Goliath's going to love it, it's so roomy!"

"The cave recognizes myself and both you and Master Jon via infrared scanners. If you approach with any other people the doors will not open."

"Understood."

"With that I will leave you both. Don't hesitate to ask if you require anymore assistance on my part," Alfred explained bowing.

"Bye Mr. Alfred!" Jon called after him.

Why was Alfred helping him? Damian turned to Jon. "I'm going to go get Goliath and have him come in here. You can go back to the dorm, you have to catch up on the days you missed."

"Yeah you're right," Jon hurried off and Damian set out to retrieve Goliath.

Alfred was helping them, directly against the wishes of his father. He didn't think Alfred would ever disobey Batman and yet here he was clearly disobeying him. Interesting. The faithful servant had a mind of his own it seemed. He wouldn't admit it. But his respect for Alfred increased that day.

* * *

The tour they went on was either not the one the boys had gone on, or Lex had cleared away a lot of the things Damian had wanted him to see. He would have to come back at some point as the Dark Knight.

It wasn't long before the press got wind that Bruce and Lex were in the same city and their meeting quickly turned into a media show so they decided to end their visit sooner than planed.

"I'm having a party this weekend," Lex exclaimed in a louder tone than necessary as if he wanted the press that had gathered to hear. "I really hope you and your entire family can come."

"Sounds great, we'll be there."

"Well, it was a pleasure having you visit. I hope you can come again some time," Luthor held out his hand. The camera's from the paparazzi were flashing and Bruce stood with his hands in his pockets, and let him wait just long enough for it to reach the apex of where it would start to be rude that he hadn't accepted and only then did he extend his hand out taking it, gripping his hand far tighter than necessary. _Like father like son_ , Lex hated them both. Feeling a rising anger in his chest, Lex forced his expression to stay positive for the cameras.

Bruce used that grip he had to pull Luthor close and whispered, "From now on keep your people's camera's aimed on you. I don't want to come across anymore surprise photos without my permission."

This wasn't and unusual or uncommon request, most wealthy families did not want images of their children floating around the internet and papers, because that could often make them targets of criminal activity and had in the past resulted with children being kidnapped and held for ransom forcing their parent's to lose entire family fortunes to have them returned safely.

But... they both knew it wasn't exactly the picture that he was upset about. Bruce slid something into Luthor's coat pocket, "Don't let it happen again."

It appeared to everyone as though he had whispered some inside joke because both of them were smiling when they pulled apart, albeit Lex's smile was a nervous one...

Bruce waved to the crowd before getting back into his limo and as it pulled away Luthor looked at what Bruce had placed in his jacket and saw exactly what he thought it would be. The newspaper picture featuring the article discussing how Damian Wayne had come for a tour. The picture of him holding the boy tightly by the back of his neck.

He crinkled it up after placing it back in his pocket. He was furious. Bruce Wayne... building his own unstoppable little task force under the guise of children and family and now he had made himself his own personal Superman. He wouldn't have it!

* * *

Bruce grabbed a device that allowed him to tell the Batwing to pilot itself home. Choosing to travel a normal way back just in case Luthor decided to track him. Once on the road for a few minutes, he took out his cell phone, after searching out the name in his contacts he hit call.

"Hello?"

"Tim, how are you?"

"Fine, what's up?" Tim was cutting right to the chase. Knowing that Bruce Wayne wasn't the type of person to call just to exchange pleasantries or to just chat.

"Have you noticed anyone following you recently?"

"No. Should I be on the lookout?"

"Yeah, Lex Luthor had a picture of you. You two haven't been in contact have you?"

Tim laughed at the idea, "What reason would I have to talk to Luthor. The guy's shady as hell."

Just as he had thought. He took the picture out of his jacket looking at the scenery to figure out where it was taken. It appeared to be Tim's college campus.

"Bruce?"

"What are you doing this weekend? Are you free?"

"I can be if it's for _business_."

By business he meant bat business.

"I think it will be. Use the card I gave you and get yourself a nice suit. I'll text you the details."

All his wards had a credit card in Bruce's name for necessary things and emergencies. They all worked and had their own money but he wanted to make sure they would never fall short, so that was their monetary backup.

"Oh is their a limit? I mean if I'm going to get a new suit I might need a new car to match," he teased.

"Just a suit will be fine. I'll send someone to pick you up."

"Until then."

He replaced his phone into his pocket and he folded his arms in worry. Bruce didn't like the idea that Luthor seemed to also be investigating his children, but in a way it made sense. After all, he never investigated a criminal without searching the people who had varying degrees of contact with them. Which was one more reason this party needed to go as planned.

* * *

Since Damian had to go to school, he was left out of the meeting when Bruce called together the entire bat family to discuss the party they would be attending. To be honest though it wasn't the only reason he was left out of the meeting.

"It's been awhile Dick," Barbara smiled when she descended into the batcave. Grayson and Todd were already present and chatting away.

"It has Babs, how have you been?" They shook hands in polite greeting.

"You know, life's been busy."

"I've been fine too Barbara, thanks for asking," Jason joked.

"As always it's nice to see you Jason," she said walking over she hugged him.

When she let go she headed to look around the batcave with interest.

"I got a hug," Jason grinned. "I see you didn't get a hug."

Grayson playfully smacked the back of his head before turning back to Barbara.

"I know I haven't been here in awhile, but has it always been this dark in here?" she asked.

"Yes," Dick and Jason responded together.

They heard the sounds of a motorcycle and they turned to find Tim pull up. He removed his helmet smiling.

"Oooh, is this a bat intervention?" he teased putting his helmet on the back of his motorcycle he rubbed his hands together as he walked up to them. "Cool I'll go first. Grayson I mean this with as much love as possible, your cussing is out of hand and it's tearing this family apart."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I mean all day, it's dick this and dick that. It really needs to stop. It's a problem."

"That's my name," he knew that Tim knew this, but was also interested to see where his little joke was going.

"Oh, my bad I just thought you were developing some sort of condition or something."

Jason hurried to Tim's side throwing an arm around him happy to get in on the fun, "No no, you see, Dick is a short form for Richard."

Tim pulled an expression of mock confusion nodding intently as Jason explained it to him. "And Richard is short when it comes to his d—"

"Enough," Bruce had just entered. He put on a stern expression, but was deep down happy to have them all back together again after so long.

"So what mission is so important it needs all of us?"

Bruce took a seat at the bat computer and everyone found seats around him where they could all see the screen. He pulled up a picture of Jon.

"Aw, he's kind of adorable," Barbara said looking up at it.

"This is Jonathan Kent, Superman's son."

They all knew Supes had a child, but none of them had yet had a chance to see him.

Batman then proceeded to explain the events of what occurred when the boys had visited LexCorp. They were all quiet when listening until he got to the part about putting custody of Jon into his name.

Todd let out a low whistle, "I doubt Supes was happy about that."

"Bruce we discussed this, when you adopt random kids off the streets, you have to make sure they _don't_ have parents," Tim teased.

Bruce didn't even crack a smile but his eyes narrowed slightly while looking at him.

"...sorry," Tim frowned realized he wasn't in a mood to joke.

"I shouldn't have to tell you that this is serious. We could be in a world of trouble if Luthor realizes Jon has kryptonian blood."

"I mean, you said he doesn't have any powers right?"

"He doesn't have any, yet," Batman explained. "But that doesn't mean the dna for having it isn't in his blood, that's what Luthor wants. He's had experiments of trying to clone Superman, all of which have failed. Using Jon's blood might help him succeed. But one Superman is enough, we don't need more."

"Ugh... shouldn't Damian be here?" Barbara asked frowning.

"Damian is not apart of this team," Bruce explained but added as an afterthought, "...right now."

"Wait... Did I hear that right. You grounded the hellspawn?" Jason looked slightly pleased about that, but was clearly trying to not show how happy he was.

"Don't call him that?" Barbara said defensively.

"What?"

"This is why Damian has such a hard time getting along with you guys, cause you call him names like that."

"We're brothers, we always call each other names," Jason explained.

"Yeah, like how I sometimes call Grayson a dick," Tim pointed out grinning.

"Knock it off," Bruce sighed. "And he's not grounded. I just thought it would be best that he take a step back from being Robin until he's older."

"So he's just grounded from all the disguises, gadgets and pretty much everything fun or interesting about being Batman's kid."

"I didn't call you all here to discuss my parenting choices we're discussing a mission," he explained. "Let's get back to it."

They all shifted their attention back in silent agreement.

"I'm going to talk to Luthor at some point during the party about how we engineered a pair of glasses that fix the condition I came up with to explain his collapse the other day. I'll ask if we can test it, and see if he has any kryptonite on him. Knowing Luthor if he thinks someone with Superman's abilities is coming to his party, he'll have some on him. Dick, switching the kryptonite out for the fake one will be your job. Do it early on during the party. Do it discreetly and don't be noticed. You'll hand off the real stuff to Barbara, and she will switch it back after we've already proven that Jon is unaffected by it."

"That doesn't sound like you need all of us," Jason explained.

"I do. I want as many eyes on Jon during the party as possible," Bruce explained. "Their is a chance he might try to steer Jon away from the party by distracting one or two of us. If Jon leaves our sight, we will have completely failed. So if you're not seeing to a specific step in this plan you're keeping your eyes on him."

They all nodded.

"It's not often we get to go on missions outside of our disguises," Jason said grinning. "This sounds like fun."

* * *

So when the weekend came they all met up outside Luthor's manor, Damian and Jon included. Jon looked really uncomfortable in the suit Bruce had purchased for him. He kept fidgeting with it and tugging on the sleeves.

"Would you stop that," Damian asked.

"Sorry, it's uncomfortable."

"It's a 3,000 suit it shouldn't be uncomfortable, it was made to fit you."

Jon's eyes widened at the price. "Three... seriously? That's so much..."

He remembered how his mother had been clothes shopping with him once and had seen a coat she adored that was $100 and she told Jon she wasn't getting it because it was too expensive.

"You get use to them," Jason explained. "By the way, I'm Jason, that's Timothy, and the that one over there is Grayson. If anything happens tonight, you just come up to one of us."

"Okay," he answered shyly.

Bruce was a step or two away. "I'm turning on the communicators now."

He clicked something on his watch. "Okay we should all be—"

"AH!" Jon gasped ripping the communicator out of his ear.

"What's wrong?" Tim asked.

"It's so loud..."

"It doesn't sound loud to me," Jason tapped his to test it.

"Perhaps you got some of your father's heightened hearing afterall," Bruce said. Walking forward he took the earpiece from Jon and lowered the volume on his alone before helping Jon put it back in his ear. "Better?"

"I think so."

"Barbara is inside. She got a job as a waitress at the party. If you see her, you don't know her," Bruce turned back to the building. "All right then, let's head inside."

The LexCorp manor was a large and scary looking building. Jon didn't want to go inside. But his Father said he wouldn't be too far away, and thanks to his super vision he could probably see him right now even though Superman was nowhere to be seen. Plus he had Batman, and all his family looking out for him tonight. So... It should be okay. He would be okay. His mind drifted back to the night he had encountered the kryptonite, he didn't want to see that stuff ever again.

Their were so many lights, and so many people dressed up in really nice clothes. It almost felt like they were going to a ball. Maybe, if he was lucky, he would get to meet a Princess!


	4. That Went Well

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party couldn't have gone better, the aftermath... That's where things go South and Damian is kidnapped along with a girl from the party. Choosing to wait it out rather than run any risk of revealing he's Robin, he gets scolded by Batman, and it seems it's true what they say. You're damned if you do, and your damned if you don't.

"Oh Mr. Wayne!"

Bruce turned at the sound of his name and saw a woman in a dark blue cocktail dress. Their was a slit in the dress extending all the way down to her bellybutton revealing the edges of her breast tastefully Her pearls fell almost as far down her front. She had next to her a girl about Damian's age dressed in a frilly blue dress with her hair a little over done in numerous curls. The woman extended her hand.

"I don't believe we've met," Bruce said politely prompting for her name.

"Angelica Kettering, this is my daughter Rebecca Kettering."

"Rebecca," he extended his hand to her as well.

"How can I—" Bruce was interrupted when Angelica turned to his right where Damian was standing not paying attention to the situation until his name was mentioned.

"Oh and this must be little Damian!" she smiled. "You little one are just as handsome as your Father."

Dick couldn't help but smile when he saw Bruce and Damian sigh in unison both have figured out the woman's motive at the same time.

"Thanks," he answered dully before he turned looking up at Bruce, he lightly shoved Jon ahead of him, "Father this is boring Jon and I are going to go find somewhere to play."

He purposely spoke like a spoiled child there to justify the rudeness of his walking abruptly away from the situation, and Angelica looked slightly panicked. "Uh... Rebecca sweetie, why don't you go with them."

She nodded to her Mother and went up to Jon and Damian. "Can I play with you guys?"

Jon and Damian both responded to her at the same time.

"No."

"Sure."

Damian threw a _you're so stupid_ look at Jon.

"What?" Jon asked. His Father had always taught him that you don't exclude anyone who wanted to join in. Especially not girls. Rolling his eyes Damian walked off the other two following close behind him.

"Oh," Angelica fawned staring after them. "Don't you think they would make the cutest couple?"

"I tend to not think things like that about children," Bruce inputted as politely as he could.

"Damian isn't betrothed yet is he?" she inquired none too delicately. It was common at their station for parents to arrange marriages when their children were young. Bruce had been approached with similar proposals about all his adopted sons at one point or another. But ever since people had found out Damian was biologically his, the level of these sorts of situations had taken a drastic up turn. People seemed to have it in their head that his fortune would almost exclusively be given to his biological child and he had already had many people offer their daughters to him for Damian with the promises of stocks and companies to go with the arrangement. But as with his other sons, he had no intention of participating in what he considered a rather barbaric tradition.

"No," he answered.

"Well Rebecca would make an ideal wife for Damian, how about we have a marriage meeting next—"

"No thank you Mrs. Kettering," Bruce put his foot down immediately. "I think when the times right, Damian will be more than capable of choosing who he wishes to spend his life with on his own."

"Oh Mr. Wayne... I was told you weren't too fond of the idea of betrothals. But let me assure you my daughter—"

"Should also be more than capable of choosing who she wishes to spend her life with, on her own time and when she's old enough. If you'll excuse me," he inclined his head politely to her before bypassing her to head to another person he needed to greet.

She looked completely jilted staring at his back as he walked away. Dick, Jason and Tim were all grinning as they bypassed her as well to spread out across the party.

Thanks to the communication devices in their ears, Damian had heard their whole conversation even after they had walked away. Their was a small part of Damian that hadn't expected his father to stand up for him like that, and his respect for him grew, reluctantly...

* * *

First thing they noticed about the party. Their was so much press. Reporters and photographers were around taking pictures and asking questions, they were roped off away from the main party so they could only be so much of a bother. But it felt a little like being a fish in a fishbowl.

The boys had spread out across the party to cover more ground and get a wide range of angles when viewing the crowd.

"Anyone spotted Luthor yet?" Dick asked discreetly into their earpieces.

"He's the host, probably waiting to show up under some big reveal," Barbara whispered into hers.

"Where you at Babs?" Dick questioned only to feel a tap on his shoulder. He turned. Barbara was wearing a waitress outfit complete with heels and a serving tray.

"Care for a drink Sir?" she asked loudly holding the tray out.

"Don't mind if I do," Dick said.

Right on time. An announcer introduced Luthor's arrival at the party, he said a few boring words to the crowd and the press and then he made his way down to the party.

"Don't approach him right away," Bruce said over their communicators. "Dick, let him approach you first."

"Got it," he responded and giving a smile to Babs they moved on. She continued handing out drinks.

But oddly, the first member of the bat family that was approached by him was Jason.

"Mr. Todd? Is that right?"

Jason turned when Lex said his name.

"Yes Sir Mr. Luthor," he answered shaking his hand. "This is nice party you have here."

"Money make everything nice," he answered. "I hope you don't mind, but... may I ask you a few questions."

"Ask away," Jason answered.

"It's about... your Father. He's an exceedingly generous man all the work he does with taking in underprivileged children like he has. I hope you don't find this too intrusive, and feel free not to answer if you think it is so. But I found reasons for all the children he's adopted. But not... his newest one. Why exactly did Jon join your family?"

The answers to questions like this had been pre-prepared, so he answered as they had all planned.

"His health isn't the best. His parents passed and their was no one to pay his medical bills, and well... Bruce can't stand by when someone needs his help, that's... the sort of man he is."

"Interesting," Lex said frowning slightly looking in Bruce's direction. Bruce was purposely making sure to not look that way even though he could hear everything. It would have been too obvious if he did.

"Not really," Jason said. "He adopted three kid's prior to Jon. Bruce has the money so... Why not?"

"No," Lex said smiling. "No, I meant it's interesting that you don't call him Father."

"..." Jason frowned. "Excuse me?"

"Have you guys had a falling out?"

"No."

"Does it have anything to do with the years you went into hiding?"

That was the story Bruce had come up with, to explain why he proclaimed his adopted child dead and alive once again was that he had to have the child go into hiding due to threats on his life from the corporate enemies of Bruce Wayne.

"Uh-oh," Babs whispered glancing in Jason's direction.

"Don't look," Dick warned whispering as discreetly as he could. "You'll give us away."

"That's not important," Jason snapped.

"I mean... maybe not to you, but I feel like their might be another reason why Bruce is collecting all these children..."

"Just what are you implying Mr. Luthor?"

"Noting inappropriate, I just... It would help me to realize the why to my question if you told me what happened to you while you were," he made air quotes for the following word, "missing."

Jason was clearly struggling to not say what he was thinking.

"Stay calm," Bruce warned.

"Any chance he had you visit a lab, or a hospital. Did anyone run tests on you?"

"The investigation on that issue hasn't been resolved yet. So forgive me, but I can't go into too many details on the matter."

"I see not a problem," Lex seemed to spot someone he knew off in the distance and he tapped his shoulder, "We'll speak again sometime."

He went off waving to the next person he was trying to greet. Tim walked up to Jason afterwards to make sure he was alright. They had dangerously approached a topic that was sure to trigger him. Bruce frowned now that their conversation was over. He still hadn't turned his gaze in their direction, but having heard all that he couldn't help but wonder. Just what the hell did Lex think he was doing with his children?

It didn't take too long for Lex to make his way over to Dick but didn't question him as he had Jason. Dick was far more skilled in the art of conversation than Jason was. He was able to distract Lex long enough to take the kryptonite from his pocket and replace it with the fake. Both were encased in identical bags made of material necessary for keeping the kryptonite from harming anyone who may be affected by it. Damian made sure at that time to keep Jon as far as possible from the scene just in case. Lex and Dick parted ways in good spirits and Dick whispered. "The switch is done."

Rebecca was fawning over Damian. Jon found this very weird. Kids their age didn't do this sort of stuff. Heck when they had crushes they typically tended to avoid talking about it but this girl was all over him.

"What do you like to do?" she asked. It was her 400th question today.

"Nothing much," Damian responded dully.

"I like to dance," she said smiling. "Do you want to dance with me?"

"Not really," Damian answered. Damian was trying to listen on the communicators and it was very difficult with this chatty girl in his opposite ear.

"I can teach you if you don't know how," she pointed out.

"I know how," Damian answered.

"...Oh..." she frowned and her eyes glanced away. Jon followed her gaze and saw she was looking at her Mother who sat her drink down and began walking over.

"Oh isn't this music wonderful," Angelica said when the music started on the next song. She rushed forward in between Damian and Rebecca placing an arm around each of their shoulders she led them out towards the dance floor. "Come now, you two should dance."

"Damian... dance..." Tim laughed on the other end of his earpiece.

"Careful not to step on her feet," Dick teased.

"Guys don't be mean... if Damian can't dance, don't make him," Babs whispered. She made her way over to Jon when Damian got pulled away.

Sighing Damian held his hand out to Rebecca, her face lit up and she excitedly took it. He paused for a moment, waiting for the proper beat to start on and then he pulled her onto the floor. It was clear in an instant, that not only could Damian dance, but he had clearly had formal dance training. Far more than the girl. One thing Dick noticed was he also knew enough to compensate for her shortcomings. If she sidestepped wrong or leaned too far in one direction he was able to pull her back to not only correct her stance but make it appear as though she hadn't missteped in the first place.

"Damn, I don't have my phone when I need it," Jason whispered having purposely left it in the limo.

"On it," Tim said taking out his phone, he aimed it and pressed record.

"I didn't know Damian could dance," Babs commented.

"Well... it's not like he wanted to," Jon commented looking slightly upset.

Barbara smiled. "You feeling left out? I'll dance with you if you want."

"No thanks..."

When the song ended, Damian returned to Jon. The girl had run off with her mother, both of them whispering happily.

"That should keep her out of my hair awhile," Damian sighed frowning and whispering discreetly into their communication device he added. "Where are we on the plan?"

"It's my part," Bruce whispered.

He approached Luthor smiling. They made small talk. Typical rich people discussions of trades and stocks. Then...

"Oh, my labs were able to correct Jon's problem, we developed a pair of glasses that auto corrects the light filtering that causes him to collapse upon seeing various shades of bright lights," Bruce explained.

"I see..." Lex said frowning. "You wouldn't mind if... we test that?"

"Not at all," Bruce said scanning the party until he saw Jon and Damian. "Jon!"

Jon looked up and Bruce motioned for him to come over.

"Show time," Damian said. "Go."

Feeling nervous he walked over to him. "Yes Sir?"

"I was just telling Mr. Luthor here about how we were able to correct you problem," Bruce said. Jon looked up at Luthor and immediately felt scared remembering what happened the last time they had seen each other and he recoiled slightly backing into Bruce who put a hand on his head in reassurance.

"Hello again, Jon I'm so glad to see you're doing better."

"Thanks," Jon said timidly.

"Shall we go to the lab and get some of that kryptonite to test?"

"No need, I happen to have some here," Lex said taking it out of his pocket, he slid it out of the casing, and the glowing rock was visible.

Bruce could feel Jon stiffen upon seeing it, looking scared. But after a moment when nothing happened he relaxed. "It does work!" Jon said touching his glasses and smiling.

"Yes... well. That is good news," Lex said looking down at his piece. Clearly doubting it's authenticity.

"Well, you and Damian should head over to the buffet table, I think I see some chocolate cake that looks like it has your name on it," Bruce said and Jon hurried off not wanting to be any closer to Luthor than he had to be.

Bruce quickly steered the question to other topics and even entertained an idea from Lex to work together on a project. Everyone listening on the devices knew Bruce wouldn't even consider it, but he was trying to get Luthor's concentration elsewhere so he didn't dwell on the kryptonite too much. The switch back would need to take place now, and Dick handed the piece off to Barbara who waited for the right moment to...

"WHA!" Barbara called out purposely tripping into Luthor spilling the drinks on her tray all over both of them. "Oh my gawd, I'm sooo sorry."

She was sounding very valley girl in her whine. "Ugh, I'm gonna lose my job! I'm so sorry Mr. Luthor."

She made the switch in all the commotion and then started picking up the broken wine glasses that was now strewn across the floor. Lex looked furious, and in a normal situation he would have fired her then and there. But with the press watching, and the influential guests looking on. He choose to play up the good boss angle.

"Don't worry about it," he said frowning as he got to his feet attempting to wipe the wine off him.

"Really... I'm just so... sorry. I don't know how..."

"It's fine," he said rather rudely before heading off to go get changed.

Jason folded his arms watching the scene from afar. Had one of Bruce's employees tripped on him like that, and been so enthusiastically apologetic. Bruce would have made sure they were okay and even helped them up off the floor. Lex did neither of those things, and it was little things like this that would tell you the kind of person bosses were.

"That's it then," Damian said discreetly changing his earpiece. You could change whose earpiece you were listening in on, but he still wanted to be able to gather information so rather than tune into anyone's earpiece in particular he set it to listen to everyone's earpiece. Everyone else was likely setting their to listen to only one person at a time, but he found that way inefficient. Doing it his way sometimes meant people were talking over one another but Damian could still distinguish between the different audios.

He turned to Jon, "Just avoid Luthor for the rest of the party, and we should be fine."

"Right..." Jon agreed frowning slightly. Luthor's kryptonite was back to being the real thing

"Damian!"

He turned to Rebecca frowning. "What?"

"Damian... I was thinking... Maybe we could take a walk by the pond outside. It's really pretty and their are swans and—"

"No thanks," Damian answered. Jon hadn't even noticed her mother who had crept up behind them placing a hand on Damian's head.

"Now now, Damian. That's rather rude. A nice girl has asked you to go on a walk with her. The least you could do is—"

Damian pushed her hand off his hair. "If I go on a walk with your daughter, will you leave me alone?"

"Of course," she replied.

Sighing he grabbed her hand leading her towards the party's back exit.

Angelica smiled widely and Jon stared after Damian looking confused. Then he felt her hand touch the top of his head. "You were an obvious second choice, and you seem like the nicer of the two," she said mistaking his confusion for jealousy at not being the one her daughter had picked. "But Damian is the blood son, so he'll get most if not all of the Wayne fortune upon your Father's passing."

Jon was at first confused as to why she was referring to him as Bruce's son. But quickly recalled their whole backstory. "Uh... sure..." Jon answered.

The hand was pulled of his head and forced into a shake when Dick approached. They were all tuned into Jon's earpiece being the one they were most concerned with, so when they heard this lady come up to him, Dick had hurried over to his side.

"Dick Grayson, ma'am, how do you do?" he asked flashing his classic smile at her and she blushed. "Oh you're one of Bruce's boys aren't you?"

"That I am," he answered smiling laying on the charm and Jon felt a tug on his arm to Tim was steering him away from her. Tim handed Jon a handheld video came and was encouraging him to play it. Jon couldn't help but feel like they were distracting him for some reason, but at the same time video games were fun so he didn't mind being led away to shoot alien bag guys on Tim's controller.

* * *

"I don't know what you think is supposed to happen between us," Damian lied to her after their walk around the pond was almost over. "But you're mother is crazy, and you shouldn't listen to her."

"My... my Mother said you would be a good match for me."

"Well she's wrong, and I have no intention of being a match for anyone right now..."

"So... you don't like me?" she asked pouting pitifully.

"It's not about liking or disliking you," Damian explained. "Your Mother is only trying to set us up to increase her net worth. She's using you for her own gain. Are you even okay with her treating you, her child, like that?"

This conversation was hitting a little close to home for him and his own thoughts were drifting towards his mother and how she had used him for selfish reasons before she had met her end.

"Mother says I will learn to love you," she pointed out.

"Yeah? Well... I don't think love exists."

Her expression fell at that. "Of course it exists... That's why people get sad when others die."

"No they're sad because they can no longer benefit from the other person's existence. Regardless on the form that benefit comes in be it monetary, emotional or physical."

"...you're really pessimistic huh?"

"...I'm realistic," he corrected.

*click*

Damian heard something in the woods behind her. He scanned the woodline for movement. It had already started getting pretty dark out so it was hard to see.

"I just think that—" she began again.

Damian brought a finger to his mouth to motion for her to be quiet. She too started glancing around in concern and then someone jumped out from the bushes grabbing her around the waist. He covered her mouth so she wouldn't scream. Knowing they were on Luthor's property and their were probably hundreds of camera's everywhere, his rushing over and attacking would be more than a little suspicious, and Luthor was already suspicious enough of their family already.

A few other men came out two pointing a gun on Damian. He frowned raising his arms into the air.

"Look how they're dressed! These kids have to mean something to the people at that party," one of the guys laughed while she struggled to get free.

"What family do you belong to?" asked one of them with a gun aimed on Damian.

Damian opened his mouth to speak, intending to try to pass off as being one of the servant's kids, just helping out for the party. He may have been wearing an expensive suit, but even poor people wore suits, and people out of the caste system typically couldn't tell the difference. So, he could probably make them believe it if he was convincing enough. The girl however finally freed herself from the mouth preventing her from speaking. "My Mother is Angelica Kettering, and his Father is Bruce Wayne! They're going to be very upset if—"

Damian closed his eyes in disappointment. He had to deal with stupid on a daily basic, but he never thought he would have to deal with someone who was worse off than that. She was clearly to used to getting out of issues by dropping her parent's names, and now it was going to bring them both nothing but trouble.

"A Wayne brat!" the one guy sneered. "Come with us Wayne..."

One of the men put a gun to the back of his head and physically started moving him to their awaiting car.

* * *

They were leaving the party, and his boys had already left waiting by the limo.

Bruce was busy saying his goodbyes.

"WHAT!?" screeched Angelica. "My daughter is missing. She was in the garden with Damian. They're both gone!"

Bruce went up to her trying to help her calm down, "I'm sure they didn't go far. We'll find them.

Luthor who had long since returned from changing out of his alcohol covered suit took out his phone open his own security feed of the garden. When he spotted what camera had caught it he double clicked on that screen to enlarge it. He played it with Angelica and Bruce watching. Their was no audio, but it showed them both get taken away.

Angelica promptly fainted.

"I have to go speak with my family, someone call the cops!" Bruce insisted. He had to say that part. It would have been to suspicious if he hadn't. He hurried outside changing his earpiece to pick up Damian's audio.

* * *

It had been a long time since he was hancuffed and thrown in the back of a trunk. It was clearly the girl's first time. She had been making so much noise that they had gagged her, which Damian was partly grateful for, but he also couldn't help but feel guilty about it. As Robin, he could have already stopped these guys by now. But as Damian... he was supposed to sit back and be the meek little rich kid.

They drove for quite a ways. Damian who had closed his eyes and memorized the car turns put them at an abandoned factory. When the trunk opened and they were pulled out, he saw they were at the pier. He hadn't been far off though, the factory was just a half mile south of there.

"So," said a new guy who hadn't been there initially. He was tall, losing his hair and wearing a grey suit that (while it may have fit him at one time) was threatening to tear at the seems from how much weight he had clearly gained since it's purchase. "We actually got Wayne's brat!"

Damian heard them pull the gag off the girl, and she started crying behind him.

"So kid, How much do you think your Father would be willing to pay to get you back in once piece?"

"I don't know... twenty, thirty bucks. It'll really depend on how much is in his pocket at the—"

One of the guys kicked him rather hard in the gut and he lurched froward, but was spared falling to the ground by the other two men who were holding him just under his shoulders.

"I see what this is. You think I'm playing. You think this is a joke," the large man seethed pulling a switch blade from inside his jacket and with a click a sharp silver blade popped out. "I don't play around when it comes to money kid."

The girl wouldn't stop crying and one of the men nearest to her back handed her to get her to get her to stop.

"Do we even still need the girl?" One of them asked. "The Ketterings are not even half as rich as the Waynes."

"Money is money right?" Damian spat some of the build up of blood in his mouth onto the ground. "Why get one ransom when you can get two?"

"Now you're speaking my language," the thug reached into Damian's jacket and pulled out his phone. "So, you're going to give your Daddy a call and tell him I want a million dollars delivered to the West Coast Pier immediately."

He scrolled through Damian's contacts his face falling slightly. His contacts had no names or identifying markers. It was all just a series of numbers.

"Seriously, what the hell?" he snapped. "Which one of these numbers belongs to your Father?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Damian shrugged.

He grabbed his knife pulling it up to Damian's throat. Damian attempted to back away from it, but merely backed into the other guys holding him preventing his retreat. The burning tear through the skin at his neck caused a vehement gasp that still escaped him despite his effort to hide it. It was partly surprise to. He hadn't expected the man to lose his patience that quickly and Damian took care to keep still at that point. Already bleeding, it wouldn't have taken more than a flick of the man's wrist to do serious, and possibly irreversible damage.

"Do you think I'm playing now?" he seethed.

"No," Damian snapped.

"Sorry, I can't hear you."

"No," Damian answered a little louder.

* * *

"Damian's been kidnapped," Bruce whispered in a hushed voice after placing a hand on Grayson's shoulder to get their attention. They were all gathered together saying their goodbyes near their limo at the end of the party.

"Kidnapped? Damian?" Jason raised an eyebrow at the news.

Tim's expression seemed to slip into a _does not compute_ status. "How!?"

Damian was probably the last kid in the world one would expect to get kidnapped. Which one of their hundreds of enemies would have even had the skill to pull that off?

Bruce pointed to his ear, and in unison they all turned to Damian's frequency listening in on what he could hear.

"So kid, How much do you think your Father would be willing to pay to get you back in once piece?"

"I don't know... twenty, thirty bucks. It'll really depend on how much is in his pocket at the—"

They heard shuffling, and a pained gasp and cough on Damian's part. The expressions of his brothers flipped to homicidal in an instant upon hearing their littlest bat in obvious pain. Tim immediately pulled a small computer form his pocket, he began typing away on the keyboard.

Jon was looking between them all, why weren't they going to find them? Why were they still standing here?

"I see what this is. You think I'm playing," the voice said. "You think this is a joke. I don't play around when it comes to money kid."

They could hear a girl crying in the background. A loud crack and then.

"Do we even still need the girl? The Ketterings are not even half as rich as the Waynes."

"Money is money right?" Damian snapped back. "Why get one ransom when you can get two?"

He was clearly trying instill value in the other captive. Otherwise, they might have just offed her then and there.

"Now you're speaking my language. So, you're going to give your Daddy a call and tell him I want a million dollars delivered to the West Coast Pier immediately."

Silence followed, and then...

"Seriously, what the hell? Which one of these numbers belongs to your Father?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Damian answered.

Damian suddenly gasped in pain yet again, Barbara clutched her arms around herself nervously. Jason closed his eyes, as though trying to memorize the voice so he knew exactly whose ass he needed to kick the most. Tim hadn't stopped typing but his expression tightened, it was hard to hear this and not be there. Jon looked scared. Seriously why were none of them moving? Grayson turned to Bruce imploring with his gaze alone for him to give the call to have them move out. But just because he wanted money delivered to the Pier, didn't mean that was where Damian was now. They had to wait and Bruce knew it. When the man spoke again, it was much louder, telling them that he had moved very close to Damian seeing as it almost sounded as though the other man was wearing his communication piece.

"Do you think I'm playing now?"

"No," Damian answered.

"Sorry, I can't hear you."

"No," Damian responded louder that time.

Tim flipped his computer around so the others could see. He had used the earpiece Damian wore, and tracked it with one of Batman's satellites. Damian was also at the pier.

"Let's go," Bruce demanded.

"Babs, stay and watch Jon," Grayson called as the rest of them took off summoning their own various rides once out of site of the manor.

They could hear clear sounds of Damian being battered and hit repeatedly and Grayson couldn't help but notice how fast and rather recklessly Jason started driving when the the sounds of that started.

* * *

He endured a beating for his cheek, sitting in the back of the car with his hands cuffed behind his back he sat still feeling every place that had been hit, kicked and cut. It wasn't the first time he had been beat and it wouldn't be the last. But he knew his father and the others had heard him via his earpiece. Might as well just wait for them to show up. After they had beat him and texted his father they threw him and the girl in the back seat of the car that they had parked on the pier. This wouldn't be horribly terrible if the girl next to him would just stop crying.

"Calm down," Damian snapped somewhat rudely.

"They're going to kill us," She cried. Shaking.

Damian rolled his eyes leaning back on the seat, a bit of blood dripping down his neck where the knife had cut him, though it hadn't been deep, so it was nothing to worry about.

"I want my Mom," she cried gasping. "I want... I..."

"You'll see your Mom again, so calm down..."

One of the men outside was yelling, he approached the car and Damian turned his head to listen to what he was so angry about.

"I gave Bruce Wayne ten minutes in the text, he hasn't so much as responded!"

"It can take time to gather that much money, boss," one of the henchmen explained. "Just wait. I'm sure he..."

"He's probably calling for help. A man that rich probably has people like Batman and Superman on speed dial! I'm not dealing with that. Fuck it, we're calling it off!"

"Sir..."

"Push them in the water, and let's get out of here."

Damian turned upon hearing that, the girl hadn't been paying attention and she only started panicking when the car started being pushed forward. The car was in neutral so it wasn't hard for them to move.

"Shit," Damian snapped moving around until he could pull his legs through his bound hands. Being on the small side this wasn't hard fro him to do. His cuffed hands now in front he moved them to hold the the door handle beside the girl, and propped up his leg as a brace, he wanted to prevent her falling forward. This could end badly depending on how the car hit the water. The front tires went over the pier's edge, then the back.

She screamed the most bloodcurdling scream he had heard in some time. Gravity did the rest. The front windshield cracked, but luckily didn't shatter. When he stopped bracing her, she fell forward against the back of the driver seat and Damian hit the back of the passenger's. He felt a surge of pain in his chest from where he had been kicked earlier. Damian reached in his jacket grabbing a pick he unlocked the cuffs on his own hands, and then unlocked hers.

"Can you swim?" he asked.

"No!" she gasped crying.

"Of course not," Damian sighed.

She gasped at the water pouring in from every crevice it could. She started banging on the windows with her hand. "Help! Mommy! Help!'

The water was freezing. Damian could already feel himself starting to shake from it. Damian cursed under his breath and then he unhinged the head rest from the passenger seat, the two spikes on it was great for busting open windows.

"Listen to me," Damian demanded. She wasn't. She kept banging on the windows desperately screaming for help.

"HEY!" he spat finally calling her attention.

"Calm down, listen to me. I'm going to break this window."

"Are you crazy!" she gasped.

"That's debatable," Damian said offhandedly. "But look, you need to take one last breath, I'll break this, and then we're going to swim up. Okay."

"No! No it's going to make the water come in quicker!"

"I mean, we can wait for the car to fill up but that's only going to make you more panicked and anxious. We need to move now."

"No I don't want to... Someone will help us!"

"We're helping ourselves," Damian snapped as he removed his coat. "Take your dress off."

"What!?"

"It'll only weigh you down while you're swimming," he explained. The water was already up to his knees.

"No way! I'm not—"

Damian had lost the last bit of patience he had left. "Take it off, or I'm ripping it off you!"

* * *

They got to the scene just as the criminals were preparing to depart and they could still hear Damian's side of the conversation and knew they were under water.

"I got Damian," Nightwing explained heading straight to the pier.

"I got that fucker," Red hood was making a beeline for the criminals who were rushing to get into their van. Batman grabbed his collar stopping him.

"You help Nightwing with Damian," he demanded. "Red Robin, you're with me!'

Batman headed towards the bad guys and feeling rather upset, Red Hood followed Nightwing.

"He still doesn't trust me," Jason said with a rather strong tone of resentment.

It hadn't been long since Jason had rejoined the team after... a series of extremely unfortunate events. But Nightwing was pretty sure he knew why Batman had directed him to rescue rather than offense and admittedly, he agreed. Though he probably wasn't going to tell Jason that, and especially not right now. They both jumped over the pier sending a grappling hook out to the edge letting it clamp on. They entered the water pulling out small air containers. Good for three hours of air while under water. They had extra for Damian and the girl as soon as they got them out of the car. It didn't take them long to spot it.

Swimming towards the window they could see him arguing with the girl, he had already removed her dress and she was stuck in a slip shivering and crying. The water was up to their chests. Nightwing got to the window letting Damian know he was there. He pulled out an extra air container. Pointing to it, he pointed to the girl, and Damian knew what he wanted immediately.

"They're going to break the window," Damian explained. "Once they do they're going to put something in your mouth, it'll be an air tank, so you'll be able to breath after that. Okay."

"No... I don't..."

Nightwing counted down on his hands. 5... 4... 3...

"Hold your breath," Damian told her.

"No... wait I—"

2...

"Just do it!"

1...

Red Hood used a device that went placed against the window it shattered instantly. The water poured in, they wasted no time. Hood grabbed the girl pulling her forward he put the breathing container in her mouth, and Nightwing pulled Damian out handing the air container to him. At the same time, Nightwing and Red Hood hit retract on their grappling guns and they were pulled from the water up to the pier's edge. Damian climbed up first, Dick had to assist him with that as he didn't appear to have his usual strength. Damian then helped Hood get the girl up on the pier safely.

She took the air container out of her mouth and immediately burst into tears, shaking.

Damian got to his feet.

"I take it Batman's here too," Damian asked. Keeping up with the code names cause you never knew who was listening.

"He sure is," Nightwing answered.

In a lower tone Damian added, "He's mad at me isn't he."

"I... I'm staying out of it," Nightwing said.

"Are you hurt badly?" Red Hood asked Damian walking up to him. He had bruises on his face and his neck was bleeding slightly.

"I'm fine," Damian said stepping forward because Batman was approaching. Him and Red Robin had apprehended the men and Damian knew he was going to get told off.

"Take the girl to get medical attention," Batman ordered, and Red Robin helped her up walking her away and out of ear shot.

"What the hell happened?" Batman demanded of Damian.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Damian snapped back folding his arms.

"How did you get in this mess?" he was angry. "Those guys were nothing you couldn't handle. So why did you let it get his far?"

"Sorry, but last time I checked, when you're not there, I'm not a crime fighter, and when you are there, I'm just backup," Damian snapped throwing his own words back at him.

"So what? You put yourself and an innocent girl at risk, for... revenge? A petty act of malicious compliance to teach me a lesson? If anything this just proves to me even more that you're not prepared to work in this field!"

"Tsk, I don't get you?! I disobey you and I get yelled at. I do exactly what you ask and I get yelled at. What the hell did you expect from me? I don't know who hired those guys, and in all likelihood it could have been Luthor himself testing us. If I just beat them down it would have been very obvious that I'm a trained fighter, and it would only take a quick movement analization scan to link me with Robin and then it could link to you. I refrained from smacking the shit out of them and took a beating to keep your identity safe. _You're welcome_!" he snapped.

Nightwing folded his arms frowning. In a way... Damian had a good point.

"You should have—"

"I should have what. Explain to me exactly what I should have done."

"You should have notified us with a panic signal before you were even taken off the property," Batman snapped. Each of them had a way of notifying each other if they were in trouble, it was a hidden button on their person. "You couldn't have known where they were taking you, and for all you know it could have been straight into the hands of our more formidable enemies! You and that girl could have been seriously injured or you could have been killed!"

"Which would have been even more of a reason to not fight back and let people make that connection. Ugh! I can't fucking win when it comes to you! And seriously, I wasn't going to let anything happen to that girl," Damian sneered defiantly.

"Is that why her face has that bruise on it?" he asked frowning.

"Jeez, I meant anything serious!" Damian was borderline yelling now. Red Hood walked over placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Damian, calm down."

"And for you information, Father, the panic signal I had was on the suit that you decided I didn't need anymore," he snapped walking past him.

Their was a moments pause when all that could be heard was Damian's footsteps walking away and then Batman sighed storming up to Nightwing. "You didn't give him a panic signal?"

Even Alfred had one on his person.

"Don't look at me," Nightwing said frowning. "We all took ours off our suits, I thought he did the same."

Batman scowled and turned around. "We're heading back. The girl's mother has probably been notified and I'm going to have to come up with a story as to why I disappeared."

"You unbelievable asshole!"

Batman turned to Jason his eyes narrowing.

"Maybe the first thing you should ask after your kid gets taken, and beaten is: _Are you okay_?" he glared furiously.

"He was standing, he's fine," Batman answered.

"Think for a second about how much you could take and still be standing. We don't know how hurt he is unless we examine him."

"I don't have time for a lecture Hood," Batman snapped angrily.

"Yeah, not having time is a specialty of yours," he seethed.

"Damian would have said something if he was hurt," Batman pointed out.

"Yeah, cause the Wayne bloodline are such open books."

"Seriously not now," Batman was officially putting his foot down now. Speaking any further would make him angrier than he already was. Jason almost didn't care.

"Fine. I'm going to go check on your kid. And then I'll bring him back to the party after. It should give you enough time to play up the concerned Father role for the public," he snapped walking up to him almost right up to his face he added in a scathing tone. "Dig deep, it's going to take all your acting skills to pull that off."

With that said he rushed after Damian who was walking rather slowly favoring his side.

"Think you can ride?" he asked indicating his motorcycle.

"I'm all wet," Damian explained.

"So am I," he replied. "The ride will dry us both of. C'mon."

"Yeah, but your clothes are made of materials that will dry quickly," Damian admitted.

"Just get on," Hood ordered and Damian climbed on behind him, with effort, due to very clearly being hurt.

"I knew it," Hood whispered turning his motorcycle on.

"All in all," Damian said softly. "I think that went well."

He was clearly referring to the party and not the recent kidnapping.


End file.
